Proton Mail Launches Proton Pass, a Password Manager with End-to-End Encryption

Proton Mail, known for its privacy-focused email service, has now launched a password manager called Proton Pass. The new service is currently in beta and is available exclusively to premium Proton Mail subscribers. However, the company has announced that it will eventually be free for all users.

Proton Pass offers end-to-end encryption, which means that even Proton itself cannot access users’ personal information. The password manager encrypts everything, including the password, login field, associated web address, and additional notes. All cryptographic operations are performed on local hardware and not servers. This means that even if Proton is compromised, users’ data remains safe.

The service is currently available as a dedicated app for desktop and mobile devices, as well as browser extensions in Chrome and Brave. Support for Firefox and other browsers is expected soon. Proton Pass offers two-factor authentication and generates email aliases that can replace a user's real address.

Proton Pass is also planning to release an open-source version, a bug bounty program, and support for hardware security keys. The Verge notes that hardware security keys are missing at launch.

Launching Proton Pass comes at a good time, as many users are losing faith in password managers following the highly publicized hack of LastPass. However, the company warns that using a password manager alone does not ensure complete data security, especially if users continue to let it auto-fill their passwords into webpages.