Runbox Blog - Fast and Secure Email hosted in Norway

Sub-addressing (plus addressing)

18/09/2018 Dave Leave a comment

In the last blog post we outlined how you can use aliases to help organise you email, and also how they can help you deal with unsolicited or marketing email. Aliases offer alternative addresses for your account so that you don’t have to use the same address for everything. However, there is a quicker way to create new addresses on your account that doesn’t need you to log in to your account and set anything up. This is sub-addressing (sometimes called plus addressing or tagged addressing).

Sub-addressing has a big plus

The key to sub-addressing is including a + and some text after it (called the tag). This goes after the username and before the @ symbol.

When our mail servers see this for incoming mail it knows that everything before the + is the username and so it can still deliver to the correct account.

Even though the mail system delivers to your usual account, the message is still addressed to username+tag@nullrunbox.com and you can use this in various ways. Sub-addressing had a lot of uses and is easy to use.

just make up the addresses as you go along without the need to set them up in your Runbox account.
use a sub-address for anything where you might want to identify the place where you used your email address.
use a different tag for each online website you sign up for so that if one leaks your address you know which one.
create a filter to delete email to that particular sub-address if it starts receiving spam.
filter email to specific folders based on the sub-addressing.

Works with all usernames and aliases

Sub-addressing works with all the Runbox domains, with your own domain if you using one, and with aliases (e.g. alias+tag@nullrunbox.com).

Unlike aliases you can’t delete a email address in this format, because you never set it up in the first place. If you do get unwanted mail to an address in this sub-address format you can deal with it in two ways.

use a filter in your Runbox account to delete it or filter it to spam.
if it is set up on an alias delete the alias, but this means that any other sub-addresses using that alias will also stop working.

Something else you should know

Although sub-addressing is part of the official specification for email systems, not all email providers implement it. That might mean some websites will not accept an email address with a + in it, and some email services may not allow sending to addresses in that format. If you do come across problems, please let the website or email provider know that they could be supporting this useful address format. If you prefer, let us know and we will try to get in touch with them.

The good news is that most major email services (and those that like to do things properly) do use sub-addressing and this means you are not likely to come across problems very often.

If you need any help with sub-addressing please take a look at our help page about sub-addressing, or contact Runbox Support.

Runbox reviewed by PC Magazine

13/09/2018 Geir 1 Comment

Runbox was reviewed by PC Magazine recently and given high marks for the privacy and security aspects of our email service, while they noted that account administration and business features could be improved upon.

And while they’re not enthused by the webmail, they obviously haven’t had a chance to test drive the new Runbox 7 Webmail yet!

Using Runbox aliases

06/09/2018 Dave 2 Comments

It’s been a while since we wrote about one of the most useful Runbox features — aliases!

Aliases are a great way to organise your email, and also a very useful tool in avoiding too many problems making changes if an email address starts to receive more unsolicited or spam email than it is easy to deal with.

Aliases

Aliases are alternative email addresses for your Runbox account that deliver mail to your existing Inbox, the same Inbox your main username delivers message to. You can send and receive mail using an alias and nobody other than you need know that it is an alias. You will see aliases listed in the Compose window if you are using our webmail, and if you are using an email program you can usually set them up in the account settings.

Using your aliases

Many people use aliases to separate mail to/from different groups of people, or to separate business and personal use. You can even use filters to automatically move incoming mail addressed to aliases to specific folders in your account.

When you sign up for online accounts of different kinds (e.g. online shopping, forums, finance etc.) you could use a different alias for each account. You can use more important aliases for organisations where you feel your information is more secure, and other aliases, that you might consider throwaway addresses, for less reputable websites.

Unsolicited/spam mail

You may not be able to tell if a website is reputable or not, but if you use aliases for different kinds of use and you start getting too much unsolicited email to one or more of them, the easier option might be to decide not to use a particular alias any longer and to replace it with another one.

Abandoning an address and deleting the alias is one way to make sure it can’t receive email, but if it is your only or main email address this could mean telling friends, family, work colleagues and a whole list of websites you new address. However, if the address is an alias and you only use it for a small number of websites then it is easier to justify deleting the alias as it is less effort to set up a new alias on those websites

Setting up aliases

Runbox provides all customers with 100 aliases for their account, regardless of their plan choice. Aliases can be set up and managed by going to Account >> Aliases.

Aliases are not forwarding addresses, and forwarding can be achieved using filters. However, to allow certain combinations of Runbox accounts to work together we have made it possible for aliases to deliver messages to another Runbox account other than the account they are created on.

When you delete an alias it is permanently reserved for your account, and you can always add it back to the account that it was originally set up on. That way, you can temporarily disable an alias by deleting it, and then reinstate it at a later time.

Aliases and sub-addressing

There is another way you can create additional addresses on your account, and we will be looking at that in our next blog post about sub-addressing.

If you have any questions about using aliases, please see our help page about Aliases and Profiles.

New domain registration and renewal service

23/08/2018 Geir 2 Comments

We are pleased to announce that we have launched a new domain registration and renewal interface.

It can be found in Account > Domain Registration, and aside from the improved user experience it now uses individual prices based on the top-level domain instead of a system based on domain credits.

Continue reading to find out more, and how if may affect you if you already host your domain name with Runbox.

What is new?

In recent years the domain registration industry has changed very significantly, and there are now hundreds of Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions available (TLD examples are .com, .org and .pro etc.). Pricing varies very considerably from one type of TLD to another. More recently there has been a significant increase in the registration and renewal prices for certain common TLD extensions, and this has made the system we currently use unsustainable for the future.

For many years we operated a domain registration service based on the idea of domain credits. The intention was that one domain credit allowed you to register one domain for one year. With the changes mentioned above we were forced to change how we price and register domains, and we will no longer be using a domain credit system.

We have now launched a new domain registration service where domain TLDs are priced on an individual basis. In many cases the prices will be unchanged or will in fact be lower. However, in some cases the prices will increase to reflect the recent changes.

How does this affect me?

If you don’t already host a domain name with Runbox, then you will just have a better experience if you choose to do so.

If you do host one or more domain names with Runbox, then there are a few changes to be aware of.

The existing domain credit(s) you have used to pay for your domain name will be replaced with new products according to the TLD of your domain name. The next time you renew your domain, you will be using the new product instead of domain credits. You can see the pricing for your renewal by going to Domain Hosting in your account and clicking on the renew option.
If you have used PayPal to pay for domain credits, and the payments recurred automatically, then we will cancel the recurring agreements to avoid you inadvertently paying for a product you no longer need. You can then pay manually for the new TLD product, and will receive a payment reminder about this.
Because of the changes to domain name pricing mentioned above, the Max subscription will no longer include a domain name. If you are hosting a domain name with a Max subscription you will receive a separate email about this.

Improving Payments with Stripe

16/08/2018 Dave Leave a comment

As part of an ongoing effort to modernize our payment processes, we have changed our primary card payment processor to Stripe. This will allow us to offer a more streamlined and modern payment experience for customers.

In addition to accepting cards issued via Visa and MasterCard, for the first time with Runbox you can now pay directly using American Express cards. We are also now able to to offer Apple Pay as a payment option.

Making this change will result in more reliable payments, and along with other changes in our payment system will give us greater flexibility in helping customers who need to change the products they have with us.

Being our main card processor will also make Stripe the primary route by which automatic renewals are processed, and other methods will gradually be phased out. We have other changes planned for the future that will simplify choosing the products you need.

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact Runbox Support.

Runbox 7 Webmail beta test update

27/07/2018 Geir 4 Comments

The Runbox 7 Webmail beta test is progressing quickly and the new webmail app has been updated with many new features since our previous blog post. If you are an existing beta tester and haven’t checked in for a while, we encourage you to do so now!

If you haven’t joined the beta test it’s still possible to participate — just send an email to support@nullrunbox.com with the subject “Runbox 7 Webmail beta test”.

Aside from many improvements to the speed and smoothness of the core functionality, the following features have been added or improved:

Drag and drop of messages
HTML message handling
Resizable folder pane
Resizable message preview pane
Both horizontal and vertical (3-pane) message preview pane
Mobile phone screen improvements
Automatic and manual adjustment of message list width
Support for sending inline images
Multi-message selection
Buttons for read/unread, flag/unflag, and report spam/not spam
Print version of messages
Show folder column in search results
Show read and flagged status in message list
Pre-load and cache messages in message list view for faster access
New font face and message layout

We are working hard to improve the Runbox 7 Webmail further, and appreciate your help in making it the fastest webmail app on the planet!

Check out the screenshots below to see some of the new features.

New look and new font face

The webmail has been updated with more colors and a new font face for improved legibility.

2- or 3-pane message preview

You can now preview messages either in a horizontal pane beneath the message list, or to the right of the message list as shown below.

Toggle horizontal/vertical message preview pane

Easily switch between horizontal (2-pane) and vertical (3-pane) message preview with these buttons in the message toolbar.

Message toolbar

There is now a fully featured message toolbar including Reply, Reply all, Forward, Move to folder, Mark read, Mark flagged, Report as spam, and Move to Trash.

On the right hand side you will find message view buttons such as Print, Vertical/Horizontal preview, Full height, and Close.

Adjust message list columns

You can now easily adjust both the folder pane width and the message list column widths by using the sliders as shown.

Otherwise the webmail will automatically adjust the column widths to show as much content as possible.

Removing Customer IP Addresses

24/07/2018 Dave 1 Comment

We are pleased to announce that we no longer include customer IP (Internet Protocol) addresses in outgoing mail headers when you are using our SMTP service. The SMTP service is what you use if you are using an email program like Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird or other similar programs on a laptop, desktop or mobile device.

This brings our SMTP service in line with our webmail service where we haven’t included the customer IP address for a few years now.

Removing the IP address of your Internet connection can help improve your privacy as IP addresses can sometimes be used to identify your geographical location, and might be accurate to a particular town or city (though often they are much less accurate that this).

If you have any further questions about this please contact Runbox Support.

“Drop Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud: Norwegian challenger clearly best on privacy”

21/06/2018 Geir 1 Comment

Runbox is hailed in a major Norwegian news outlet for providing superior privacy protection.

The article is based on a study by Vienna University of Business and Economics, which compares Runbox to 4 other major email services.

Gmail is slammed in the same article for its poor default privacy settings and a pattern of privacy violations.

In the study, Runbox scores high in all categories:

Informational Control: 7/7
Decisional Control: 7/7
Behavioral Control: 6/7
Privacy Friendly Defaults: 7/7
Technology Paternalism: 5/7
Privacy By Design: 6/7
Service Appeal: 5/7

At Runbox we are very happy with this increasing focus on privacy, which supports our long-held privacy commitment and our work on compliancy with EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

The full digi.no article (in Norwegian) can be seen below in PDF format.

Dropp Gmail, Outlook og Icloud- Norsk u...rer klart best på personvern - Digi.no

Vulnerabilities in PGP and S/MIME

23/05/2018 Dave 2 Comments

We have been following a story that appeared recently about vulnerabilities in PGP and S/MIME that can cause a leak of the plaintext content of encrypted emails.

A technical description of the vulnerabilities can be found at https://efail.de/

There are a number of possible mitigations for the vulnerabilities, and they vary in how much they might impact your use of encryption. As we have help pages about how to use encryption with email, we felt we should let you know about these particular vulnerabilities.