The encrypted e-mail service, ProtonMail, has just launched a new feature which allows users to report e-mails for phishing. The secure e-mail provider hopes to shore up user security by alerting users to dangerous content. Phishing scams are one of the most effective attacks because users get duped into clicking malicious links or downloading infected attachments because they thought the e-mail looked authentic.
In the announcement, the firm said:
“Phishing scams are among the most effective kinds of online attacks. Cyber criminals create e-mails that try to get you to click on malicious links, download malware, or send sensitive information, such as your login credentials or banking information. Phishing attacks can target any e-mail account, and encrypted e-mail is no exception.
Today we’re announcing a new tool called Report Phishing to help defend the ProtonMail community from these kinds of attacks. When you receive a phishing e-mail, you can now easily report it to our security team. This will allow us to perform analysis and update filtering rules to protect the entire ProtonMail community.”
From today, users will be able to report suspected phishing from both the web and the ProtonMail mobile apps on Android and iOS. On desktop when you’ve opened the e-mail just hit the ‘more’ arrow where you’ll find ‘Report phishing’. The process is similar on the mobile apps, just open the e-mail and tap on the ‘more’ button (an arrow on iOS, and the three dots on Android) and find the ‘Report phishing’ option.
Once you’ve chosen to report the phishing e-mail, you’ll have to press ‘Confirm’ in a pop-up window that appears, this gives the company permission to analyse the message and header information to improve the spam filters.
Overall, this is a very nice security feature which should make everyone safer. ProtonMail has millions of users who will now potentially be on the look out for phony e-mails to report.