Soverin privacy rating

Summary

Soverin scores 56 out of 100 (grade D) on the email providers criteria. It meets 9 of 20 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, modern web standards, open protocols, custom domains, email security standards, IMAP support and Sender Rewriting Scheme. It partly meets end-to-end encryption, encrypted mailbox storage, SMTP submission, mail transport security and ARC sealing. It does not meet open source, independent audit, transparency report, security headers and sign up without personal data. Still needing evidence: tells users about requests. It is based in the Netherlands: Nine Eyes member; EU member (GDPR). Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade C, Internet.nl website score 100% and Internet.nl email score 100%.

Score 56 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.

• ✔Yes

  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 privacy statement says only session and optional login cookies are used, and no tracking cookies. The website loads no third-party scripts.

  soverin.com

• ✔Yes

  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. Soverin states it will never use advertising as a source of income, and personal data is not sold.

  soverin.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. Soverin states ISO 27001 certification, but the certificate is only sent on request and no report is public.

  soverin.com

• ✖No

  Transparency report ×2Weight 2 of 3

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

  No transparency report is published. The terms allow Soverin to hand user data to the police when a competent authority requests it.

  soverin.com

• ?Unknown

  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?

  Needs evidence. Add it

• ◐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 listed as a webmail feature. It is not on by default, and no further documentation is published.

  soverin.com

• ◐Partial

  Encrypted mailbox storage ×3Weight 3 of 3

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

  Servers use disk encryption. Encryption of stored mail with a key only the user holds is not documented.

  soverin.com

• ✔Yes

  Open protocols ×2Weight 2 of 3

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

  IMAP and SMTP work with any mail app. Calendar and contacts sync over CalDAV and CardDAV.

  soverin.zammad.com

• ✔Yes

  Custom domains ×1Weight 1 of 3

  Can mail be sent and received with your own domain?

  Own domains can be connected at no extra charge, or registered through Soverin for a yearly fee.

  soverin.com

• ✖No

  Sign up without personal data ×2Weight 2 of 3

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

  The FAQ states that a mobile phone number is needed to sign up. The privacy statement describes the phone number as optional.

  soverin.zammad.com

• ✔Yes

  Sender Rewriting Scheme ×1Weight 1 of 3

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

  Forwarded mail uses SRS.

  soverin.com

• ◐Partial

  ARC sealing ×1Weight 1 of 3

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

  ARC is listed for forwarded mail. Validation of ARC chains on inbound mail is not documented.

  soverin.com

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 C (55/100+)

  developer.mozilla.org

• ✔Yes

  Modern web standards ×1Weight 1 of 3

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

  Score 100%

  batch.internet.nl

• ✔Yes

  Email security standards ×2Weight 2 of 3

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

  Score 100%

  batch.internet.nl

• ✔Yes

  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.soverin.net:993 (implicit TLS). IMAP4rev1 advertised with IDLE.

• …Not tested yet

  POP3 support ×1Weight 1 of 3

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

  Could not test: No server found (set a host in the rating file or publish RFC 6186 SRV records)

• ◐Partial

  SMTP submission ×2Weight 2 of 3

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

  smtp.soverin.net:465 (implicit TLS). Missing: SMTPUTF8.

• ◐Partial

  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 reject, DNSSEC, DANE all. Missing: MTA-STS missing, TLS-RPT.

Email standards

• ✔Yes: Mail serversMXmx.soverin.net
• ✔Yes: RFC 7208 sender policySPFpublished
• ✔Yes: RFC 7489. Quarantine or reject counts as enforcedDMARCp=reject
• ✖No: RFC 8461 strict transport securityMTA-STSmissing
• ✖No: RFC 8460 TLS failure reportsTLS-RPTmissing
• ✔Yes: RFC 4033 signed DNSDNSSECsigned and validated
• ✔Yes: RFC 7672 TLSA records on MX hostsDANEall
• ✖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