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Why is my webmail service not supported?

It is really easy to add support for other webmail services. So just tell us what you are missing. We are listening to you. If we have enough requests, we will add support for your favorite webmail service or social network.

What technology is freenigma based on?!

freenigma is based on what is probably the most widespread free crytographic software - GnuPG. However, this software is used only on the server and does not have to be installed on the client. Within the webmail client, a JavaScript-based "user script" performs the main part of the job: the integration of the freenigma functionality in the webmail client as well as the encryption and decryption of mails.

Why do I have to register for the freenigma service?!

You manage all contacts and trusted persons with whom you want to exchange encrypted e-mails on the freenigma server. For experts: The entire key management takes place on the server. Your keys are managed on the server while the encryption itself takes place within the client. For non-experts: don't worry - you won't find any complicated terms in freenigma. Everything is simple and intuitive to use.

Does freenigma send my mails to the freenigma server for encryption?

No. All mail is encrypted or decrypted directly in the webmail client (i.e. directly in the browser). But how does that work?! For the experts: when making an encryption request, the freenigma extension sends nothing more than the list of recipient addresses to the freenigma server. In response, it receives a random session key for symmetric encryption within the client as well as an asymmetric encrypted session key for all the recipients. AES encryption is then performed within the client using the unencrypted session key. Then, the user script in the client combines the symmetric encrypted mail text and the asymmetric encrypted session key to create the OpenPGP binary format.

Can I exchange encrypted e-mails with people who don't have a freenigma account?

Not now, but in the near future. As the OpenPGP binary format that freenigma creates is standard, other programs that support the OpenPGP standard (e.g. GnuPG or PGP) can decrypt such mails. Of course, only when the recipient has the correct private key. And freenigma can, of course, read e-mails encrypted by such programs. In order to do so, the sender has to have the public key of the freenigma user who is to receive the message. In the future, the public freenigma key can be sent directly from the freenigma server with a simple mouse click.

Why doesn't freenigma encrypt attachments yet?

Because we would have to first send the file to our server in order to encrypt it. And from a security perspective, that isn't a clean solution. And we would then have to scan for viruses on our freenigma server because otherwise freenigma might encrypt infected files that could then only be scanned after the recipient has decrypted the file. Thus any virus scanners on the mail server or on the recipient's mail client would be bypassed. We're considering a solution. Until we have implemented it, we might temporarily create a file encryption upload on the freenigma server - if there are many requests for this. Of course we also would like to support the upcoming Google File-Manager.

Wouldn't it be better if Google Mail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and other providers built encryption directly into their own systems?

No. Then users who have multiple accounts with different webmail providers would have to manage different encryption accounts - one for each webmail provider. freenigma works across all systems. With a single freenigma account, a freenigma user can be registered with multiple webmail providers simultaneously and encrypt and decrypt independently of the provider.

In addition, the separation of content and encryption is important because this is the only way to ensure that the data cannot be decrypted by an unauthorised third party. The webmail clients have no access to the freenigma encryption and freenigma has access to the content only within the browser – but it neither saves the content nor sends it to the server. So freenigma has no access to your private data either. Only someone who simultaneously has access to both the content of the email and the encryption can decrypt a mail. And in the case of freenigma, that is only the sender and the recipient for whom the mail was encrypted.

In addition: why should I trust the webmail providers? How can I be sure that there isn’t an unencrypted copy of my mails somewhere? In the meantime governmental authorities in many countries are calling for exactly that. freenigma doesn’t save any user data on the server as all operations take place directly in the webmail client. freenigma can therefore never be forced to hand over user data because no user data is stored in the first place. And you can verify that freenigma really doesn’t send any data to the server by looking at the freenigma extension code. Or leave that to an expert.

What does the name "freenigma" mean?

The name "freenigma" is a combination of the words "free" (as in “freedom”) and "enigma".

The word "free" stands for "freedom" because privacy, confidentiality and informational self-determination are the basis of our freedom and the foundation of our democracy. In addition, the freenigma Firefox extension is under a free software licence (GPL) and therefore available in source code.

The Greek word "enigma" means "puzzle" and was also the name of the infamous German cipher machine used during World War II. But: while the Enigma machine was on the dark side of the force during the second World War and helped to wage a war in which entire peoples were enslaved, "freenigma", as a product and service of a young, German company, intends to serve the freedom of the people.

Does it cost anything to use freenigma?

No. The use of the freenigma service is free of charge.

Will it cost anything to use freenigma in the future?

We are planning to offer the freenigma service free of charge for private individuals. The running costs and business profit are to come from paid services for companies. We believe that many companies will outsource their e-mail in the near future. To do so, they will utilise the services of Google Mail, Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. However, we believe that this change will only take place if companies are able to encrypt their business secrets independently of the provider. That’s where freenigma comes in. :-)

I’ve heard about freenigma in another context. I thought you built crypto-appliances?!

That’s right. We’ve also built an e-mail proxy for encrypting e-mails. We’ve simply had too much to do developing the freenigma service. That’s why not too much has been heard about the appliance project recently. We’ve already founded a separate company for the freenigma appliance. It’s about two completely different software systems that are being developed separately.

Can you digitally sign e-mails with freenigma and verify digital signatures?

It’s already possible, but in order to keep the system as simple as possible, we haven’t activated the necessary functionality yet. We are going to provide expert options that freenigma account holders can use to activate, for example, a signature function. At the next login, a signature button appears next to the encrypt button in the freenigma toolbar.

Does freenigma also work with the Internet Explorer?

In the initial step, we support only the Firefox browser. However, we are already working on an implementation for the Internet Explorer, which we will only release if we receive enough requests for it. To be honest, we would prefer all our users to use Firefox because, due to the open source code, it is more trustworthy than proprietary products. Furthermore, the browser is available for all platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows).

How do I install the freenigma Firefox-Extension?

  • When you have finished your freenigma registration you are asked to install the freenigma Firefox-Extension.
  • Click "Install freenigma now" to install the latest version of the Extension.
  • After clicking the download link, you will likely have a little bar appear at the top of the webpage. It will be gray or yellow and should look something like this:
  • The Bar will tell you that Firefox prevented freenigma.com from installing software on your computer. You'll need to click on the "Edit Options..." button on the far-right of the bar.
  • The small window that pops up is a list of sites that you have decided to trust to install software on your computer through Firefox. Click "allow" to add freenigma.com to your list of trusted sites. If you'd rather not "trust" this site, you may install the extension manually by saving it on your Computer and open it with Firefox.
  • After adding freenigma.com to your list of trusted sites, click the "OK" button to be returned to the page and the bar should be gone.
  • Again, click on the download link and wait a few seconds. Another box should pop up. After a few seconds with this box visible, the "Install" button will become active. Click this button to begin the installation process.
  • Once the installation begins, the box from the last step will disappear, replaced by the "Extensions" menu where once complete, you will see a message like "freenigma will be installed when Firefox is restarted."
  • Close Firefox and reopen. The extension should now be installed and will welcome you by showing a popup in the lower right corner of your browser.

I can't install the extension!

  • Make sure that you have read the section about "How do I install the freenigma Firefox-Extension". If you still got trouble installing the extension, have a look at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_install_themes_or_extensions_(Firefox) and see if one of the points there matches your problem.
  • If you still got problems, try downloading the extension manually from https://www.freenigma.com/freenigma/download/freenigma.xpi. A Firefox Extension is not more than a ZIP file, so try to unzip it manually (e.g. using WinZIP or a command line ZIP utility) and see if you can install from there.

I can't register

  • If you get redirected to a login screen when you click on the registration link, make sure that the whole link got clicked and wasn't wrapped or truncated by you mail client.
  • If an error occured during the registration process wait for 20 minutes and try again.

I installed the freenigma Firefox-Extension but the toolbar doesn't show up

  • First, make sure that the Extension is installed correctly. Go to the Extensions Manager inside the Tools menu and check that it is installed
  • If freenigma is installed correctly, it should ask you for your username at the first startup. Furthermore, there should be a blue freenigma logo in your status bar. If the logo is not blue but grayed out you accidentaly disabled the extension. Reenable the extension and try again.
  • The following extensions are known to interfere with the freenigma extension: GMail S/Mime, NoScript. Either uninstall these extensions or create a new Firefox profile to use with freenigma.