Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and zero-access email service Proton Mail has just introduced a new privacy feature called “hide-my-email aliases.”
This new feature allows users to create and use randomly generated email addresses that can be used on top of their real email address as a masking layer, ensuring that the primary address stays private. The aliases can send and receive emails from within Proton Mail as normal and forward responses to the user’s regular address, all without risking disclosing their identity.
The ‘Free’ tier allows users to create up to 10 aliases, while Proton’s Unlimited plan lets subscribers create as many as they need through the relevant setting on Security Center in Proton Mail. Of course, to use aliases, one has to create a main account first, so these randomly generated addresses are tied somewhere.
After generating a new alias in the Proton Mail Security Center, it is automatically loaded onto your system’s clipboard for convenient sharing. A Proton Pass integration is also available, ensuring continuity and less friction for those using multiple products from the vendor.
Why email aliases are important
The concept of aliases isn’t new in the world of secure email services, as many secure email platforms and mainstream offerings allow users to create alias email addresses that funnel into their primary inboxes.
The importance of this feature lies in the following key premises:
- By using an alias, users can protect their primary email address from being bombarded with unsolicited emails and spam.
- Aliases can reduce the risk of falling victim to phishing attacks, as users can deactivate or discard an alias if it becomes a target without affecting their primary email account.
- In the case of a data breach, hackers obtain a nearly useless alias that they cannot use to log into the person’s primary email account.
- Using aliases helps maintain privacy by not disclosing the user’s real email address to every service or website they sign up for. Even if a user’s primary address does not contain identification elements, using it across multiple platforms increases the likelihood of anonymization through data correlations.
- Aliases allow users to manage different facets of their online identity, segregating personal, professional, and casual communications effectively.
- Users can filter, sort, and organize emails more efficiently, as they can assign specific aliases for specific purposes or sources.
All in all, this is a very welcome new feature from Proton Mail, and it is very important that it is being made available to free users as well, albeit with some restrictions. We also see other services offering unlimited email aliases, as we noted in our StartMail review.
For those who want to dive deeper into the pros and cons of the particular product, check out our detailed review of Proton Mail, where you can find a 33% discount coupon too.