Hoax bomb threats: Blocking orders for Proton Mail under process, says TN cop

Proton Mail is a Swiss end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2013 headquartered in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland

An order to block end-to-end encrypted mailing platform Proton Mail has been sent to the entity and is under process, a senior Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing police officer has told Moneycontrol.

D Ashok Kumar, the superintendent of police-1 who is also the state's nodal officer for blocking orders under IT Act, 2000, has requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to withhold access to Proton Mail.

The move comes after several schools in Chennai received hoax bomb threats on February 8. A police investigation found these mails were sent using Proton Mail.

The police initiated a process to seek information about the users who sent the emails but faced a roadblock.

"They were least responsive... We were unable to get IP address, mobile number -- other backend information of the email address because it is end-to-end encrypted. We are unable to trace them also," Kumar said.

Moneycontrol has sent queries on the matter to Proton Mail and the article will be updated when a response is received.

The Hindustan Times was the first to report that India is trying to block Proton Mail.

This, however, is not the first time that the Switzerland-headquartered company has courted controversy, especially for being abused by threat actors to send out fake bomb threats.

In 2020, the Russian government blocked the encrypted email provider after emails claimed that bombs were planted in public places.

Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (abbreviated Roskomnadzor) said the bogus emails were responsible for “creating a real threat of mass disturbance of public order and causing great concern among citizens and public outcry”.