Proton Sentinel: next level account security protection for (almost) everyone

Proton, maker of Proton Mail, VPN and several other services, announced the launch of Proton Sentinel earlier today. Proton Sentinel is a security add-on for Proton accounts that enables higher levels of account security protection and support.

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Proton services have grown considerably ever since the company launched Proton Mail, an email service with a strong focus on security and privacy. The launching of additional services made accounts more attractive to bad actors. While Proton’s security defenses are excellent, the company has not experienced a breach, data loss or leak, it is user passwords that are a weak link in the chain. While Proton users may enable two-factor authentication to better secure their accounts, not all do, and bad actors are constantly trying to find ways to circumvent two-factor protections or trick users into providing them with the codes.

Proton Sentinel

Proton Sentinel has years of experience protecting high profile accounts baked into it. Proton claims that it is serving “high-profile people and organizations from around the world”, and has been for years. These high-risk accounts are lucrative targets, considering that an attacker would gain access to a person’s entire email history, files and other data.

The very same protection is now offered to Proton customers as part of Proton Sentinel. While not available to all account types, Proton Sentinel is available free of charge.

Proton explains that it is limiting access to Proton Sentinel to certain account types, because of the “expensive resources required”. The following Proton accounts may enable Sentinel: Proton Unlimited, Family, and Business, along with legacy Lifetime and Visionary accounts.

To do so, Proton customers need to load their account home and go to Settings > Go to Settings > Account > Security and Privacy. There is a toggle on the page to enable or disable Proton Sentinel.

Here is what the security program entails when enabled:

• Includes advanced protections that, Proton says, are “more likely to detect and challenge suspicious events”.
• Suspicious events will be escalated 24/7 to security analysts, who will “review the assessments” made by the automated systems.
• Any security-related support request is escalated to “trained security specialists”.

Proton combines automated systems with human security specialists, raising protections of accounts who enable the security feature significantly.

Proton customers who enable Proton Sentinel will also gain access to additional information and security alerts. An advanced security log, for instance, lists the protective measures of Proton’s systems.

Proton notes that the high-security program is not for everyone. Customers who share the account with other people and don’t use two-factor authentication may not want to enable Proton Sentinel, as it may throw more login challenges at them when they try to sign-in.

Customers who are high-profile public figures, who deal with sensitive data or may be targets of cyberattacks may consider enabling Proton Sentinel to increase account protections further.

Interested users find more information about Proton Sentinel here.

Now You: do you use Proton services? Will you enable Proton Sentinel?

Summary

Article Name

Proton Sentinel: next level account security protection for (almost) everyone

Description

Proton, maker of Proton Mail, VPN and several other services, announced the launch of Proton Sentinel earlier today.

Author

Martin Brinkmann

Publisher

Ghacks Technology News

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