Hushmail privacy rating

Summary

Hushmail scores 29 out of 100 (grade F) on the email providers criteria. It meets 3 of 21 criteria: TLS configuration, open protocols and POP3 support. It partly meets no ads or data sales, transparency report, modern web standards, end-to-end encryption, custom domains, IMAP support and SMTP submission. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, independent audit, tells users about requests, security headers, encrypted mailbox storage, sign up without personal data, email security standards, mail transport security, Sender Rewriting Scheme and ARC sealing. It is based in Canada: Five Eyes member. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade F, Internet.nl website score 73% and Internet.nl email score 66%.

Score 29 out of 100. How scoring works

Criteria

• ✖No

  Open source ×3Weight 3 of 3

  Is all the source code needed to run the product public?

  Closed source.

• ✖No

  No trackers or telemetry ×3Weight 3 of 3

  Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?

  The website loads Google Analytics, Google Ads and HubSpot tracking scripts. The privacy policy describes cookies used to understand how people use the services.

  hushmail.com

• ◐Partial

  No ads or data sales ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?

  Funded by paid plans, with no ads in the mail service and no scanning of mail for ads. The website loads Google Ads and HubSpot ad tags, and the privacy policy allows sharing non-identifying data with third parties for advertising.

  hushmail.com

• ✖No

  Independent audit ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?

  No independent audit is published.

• ◐Partial

  Transparency report ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?

  The privacy policy explains that account data is disclosed only for an order enforceable in British Columbia or in an emergency. No request counts are published.

  hushmail.com

• ✖No

  Tells users about requests ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?

  The privacy policy states that Hush will not tell users whether an order for their data exists.

  hushmail.com

• ◐Partial

  End-to-end encryption ×3Weight 3 of 3

  Can mail be end-to-end encrypted so that the provider cannot read message contents?

  OpenPGP encryption is on by default between Hushmail users, and other recipients read encrypted mail on a web page. In webmail and over IMAP and POP the encryption runs on Hushmail's servers. Only the iPhone app encrypts on the device.

  hushmail.com

• ✖No

  Encrypted mailbox storage ×3Weight 3 of 3

  Is stored mail encrypted with a key the provider does not hold?

  OpenPGP-encrypted messages are stored encrypted, but the privacy policy states that unencrypted email is stored unencrypted.

  hushmail.com

• ✔Yes

  Open protocols ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Can any standard app connect over IMAP, POP3, SMTP, CalDAV or CardDAV, without extra software?

  IMAP, POP3 and SMTP work with any client on every plan, including Personal Use.

  help.hushmail.com

• ◐Partial

  Custom domains ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Can mail be sent and received with your own domain?

  Not on the Personal Use plan. A custom domain needs a Small Business, Healthcare or Law plan.

  hushmail.com

• ✖No

  Sign up without personal data ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Can an account be created without a phone number or another email address?

  A free trial needs an alternate email address and a phone number. Paid plans also ask for billing details.

  help.hushmail.com

• ✖No

  Sender Rewriting Scheme ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Is the envelope sender rewritten with SRS when mail is forwarded, so forwarded mail keeps passing SPF?

  No published documentation on SRS for forwarded mail.

• ✖No

  ARC sealing ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Does the provider validate and add ARC (RFC 8617) signatures, so authentication results survive forwarding?

  No published documentation on ARC signing or validation.

Automated tests

• ✔Yes

  TLS configuration ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?

  Grade A+

  ssllabs.com

• ✖No

  Security headers ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?

  Grade F (0/100+)

  developer.mozilla.org

• ◐Partial

  Modern web standards ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?

  Score 73%

  batch.internet.nl

• ✖No

  Email security standards ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Does the mail domain score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl email test?

  Score 66%

  batch.internet.nl

• ◐Partial

  IMAP support ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Does the IMAP server accept connections over implicit TLS on port 993 and advertise IMAP4rev1 or IMAP4rev2 with IDLE push?

  imap.hushmail.com:993 (implicit TLS). IMAP4rev1 advertised, no IDLE before login.

• ✔Yes

  POP3 support ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Does the POP3 server accept connections over implicit TLS on port 995 and answer CAPA with UIDL?

  pop.hushmail.com:995 (implicit TLS). CAPA: TOP, USER, UIDL, SASL.

• ◐Partial

  SMTP submission ×2Weight 2 of 3

  Does mail submission work over implicit TLS on port 465 with SMTPUTF8, 8BITMIME, PIPELINING and AUTH?

  smtp.hushmail.com:465 (implicit TLS). Missing: SMTPUTF8, 8BITMIME, PIPELINING.

• ✖No

  Mail transport security ×3Weight 3 of 3

  Does the mail domain enforce encrypted, authenticated delivery with MTA-STS, DANE, DNSSEC, TLS-RPT and an enforced DMARC policy?

  Passes: SPF, DMARC quarantine. Missing: MTA-STS missing, TLS-RPT, DNSSEC, DANE none.

Email standards

• ✔Yes: Mail serversMXplsmtp1.hushmail.com, plsmtp2.hushmail.com
• ✔Yes: RFC 7208 sender policySPFpublished
• ✔Yes: RFC 7489. Quarantine or reject counts as enforcedDMARCp=quarantine
• ✖No: RFC 8461 strict transport securityMTA-STSmissing
• ✖No: RFC 8460 TLS failure reportsTLS-RPTmissing
• ✖No: RFC 4033 signed DNSDNSSECnot validated
• ✖No: RFC 7672 TLSA records on MX hostsDANEnone
• ✖No: Brand logo record (not scored)BIMInone
• ✔Yes: RFC 6186 and RFC 8314 service records (not scored)SRVclient autoconfiguration published

Capabilities are what each server advertises before login. How these tests work