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Skiff (email service)

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Skiff (email service)
Type of site
Webmail
OwnerSkiff (email service)
Created byAndrew Milich; Jason Ginsberg
ParentNotion
URLskiff.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationNo longer accepted
Users≈2 million users (2023, November)
Launched2022; 2 years ago (2022)
Current statusActive, defunct as of February 9, 2024
Content license
Open Source

Skiff was an email service startup company and collaboration tool, that provides privacy-friendly end-to-end encrypted Email and Cloud services.[1][2][3] The company's commercial strategy is focused in offering to its clients an Open-Source, transparent and audited Email, Calendar, and Cloud Storage services without trackers or advertisements.[4]

It launched in 2021 and was developed in San Francisco, California.[5] In November 2023, it reached its own record of almost 2 million users (17 months since launch).[6]

Skiff was acquired by Notion on 9 February 2024. Users will have six months to migrate their data before the closure of their services.[7][8][9][10]

History

Skiff was founded by Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg in 2020 and was initially focused on providing a secure document editing service similar to Google Docs.[11] While Skiff was in beta, the founders released a public whitepaper explaining how Skiff’s encryption works.[12][13] Skiff had its public launch out of beta in November 2021. A difference from other services was that it stored its files using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).[14]

Skiff Mail and Skiff Drive were launched in 2022.[15][16]

In February 2024, Notion acquired Skiff.[17]

Software

Some of Skiff’s code is source-available with some libraries being open source.[18][19] Skiff uses public-key authenticated encryption for secure and private access to end-to-end encrypted documents, files and emails.[20][21] Skiff also allows users to send payments through MetaMask.[22]

Reviews

In a 2023 article, PCMAG reviewed Skiff pointing that Skiff offers "End-to-end encryption for email, collaboration, and calendar", making complements to the fact of its services being free and easy to use (while being available as Apps for macOS, Android, and iOS).[23] Moreover, it also was pointed the "cons" of Skiff services "requiring four separate mobile apps" and having "no encrypted email with nonusers".[23]

PCMAG's final score review was "4.5/5 Outstanding".[23]

Controversies

According with a WSJ article published in 2023, allegedly the Russian government banned Skiff from Russia, because of Skiff's end-to-end encryption business model, which is illegal in Russia. (And also due to the company's persistence in not handing over users data for the Russian Government, thus allegedly compromising the safety of its citizens).[24] As a result Skiff faced a 81% drop in traffic from Russia, and Andrew Milich itself stated that Skiff's engineers were scrambling to find ways to restore access to Russian users after the occurrence.[24]

References

  1. ^ Newman, Jared (June 27, 2022). "I'd love to dump Gmail for this slick, private email–but there's a catch". Fast Company. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  2. ^ "Skiff bags $10.5M to build private/collaborative workspaces". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  3. ^ Pierce, David (May 17, 2022). "Skiff Mail is taking on Gmail by betting on privacy — and crypto". The Verge. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  4. ^ "Skiff - Private, encrypted, secure email - 10 GB free". skiff.com. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  5. ^ "Skiff Banks $10.5M for E2E Encrypted Workplace Collaboration | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  6. ^ "Skiff's Official Twitter Account". Twitter. November 18, 2023.
  7. ^ "Skiff - Private, encrypted, secure email - 10 GB free". skiff.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  8. ^ andrew-skiff (February 9, 2024). "Skiff x Notion". r/Skiff. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  9. ^ Mehta, Ivan (February 10, 2024). "Notion acquires privacy-focused productivity platform Skiff". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  10. ^ Kothari, Akshay (February 9, 2024). "Meet Skiff, the newest member of the Notion family". Notion. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  11. ^ "Skiff, an end-to-end encrypted alternative to Google Docs, raises $3.7M seed". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  12. ^ "Skiff – Security Whitepaper - Read more". skiff.com. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  13. ^ "Skiff Whitepaper" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  14. ^ Newman, Jared (November 15, 2021). "This privacy-first document editor has a wild new way of storing files". Fast Company. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  15. ^ Pierce, David (May 17, 2022). "Skiff Mail is taking on Gmail by betting on privacy — and crypto". The Verge. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  16. ^ "10GB de stockage gratuit et chiffré avec Skiff Drive - TOOLinux". www.toolinux.com. June 17, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  17. ^ Mehta, Ivan (February 10, 2024). "Notion acquires privacy-focused productivity platform Skiff". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  18. ^ "Skiff is launching Skiff Mail to take on Gmail with encryption | #emailsecurity | #phishing | #ransomware". NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY NEWS TODAY. May 18, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "skiff-apps/LICENSE at main · skiff-org/skiff-apps". GitHub. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  20. ^ Daniel, Alan (May 26, 2021). "Skiff Is Here To Make Work Privacy Great Again". geekinsider.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  21. ^ "Skiff Review". PCMAG. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  22. ^ "Skiff Mail fait concurrence à Gmail en se concentrant sur la confidentialité et la cryptographie" (in French). May 22, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  23. ^ a b c "Skiff Review". PCMAG. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Encryption Bans . . . What Is This, Russia?". The Wall Street Journal. February 3, 2023.
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