mail.com updates its email service with two-factor authentication and new spam recognition technology

Two-factor authentication is now available to all mail.com users worldwide. The security feature provides additional protection both to the mailbox and to the cloud. With active two-factor authentication, account data is safe from unauthorized access, even if the account password is lost or compromised. To log in, users who activate two-factor authentication in their account settings will be required to enter not only their personal password, but also a temporary 6-digit one-time code generated by an authentication app on their smartphone.

As a further improvement in the security for its users, the spam protection in the mail.com email service has also received a significant update. The new approach for spam recognition is based on machine learning and complements the previously used spam filters. In order to distinguish spam and regular emails more precisely, the new filter technology takes into account a large number of attributes and patterns of a message. Artificial intelligence also helps to recognize new spam trends accurately at a very early stage. 

“Email has evolved more and more into a control center for everything people do online: It is increasingly used not only for private correspondence, but also for shopping transactions, service contracts and invoices, as well as for the communication with public services. The implementation of the highest data protection standards and the most advanced security technologies are at the center of mail.com products and help our customers to safely manage their digital life,” says Jan Oetjen, CEO of mail.com.

An important feature of the new enhanced spam filters is based on feedback from users: By learning which messages mail.com users mark as unwanted, the algorithm learns how to detect spam more precisely, thus making the spam filter more effective for all mail.com customers. Users can grant the permission to analyze spam emails – or revoke it at any time – in their mail.com Account Settings. All data used for the analysis is anonymous.

To enable two-factor authentication, users need to verify their mobile phone number by entering the code they receive upon activation. In a second step, an authenticator app on the smartphone needs to be authorized; users can choose any such security-code generating app that is already installed on their device or is available for download. After the verification, in the third and final step, a 20-digit secret key is automatically generated that allows the user to regain access to the account in case the authorized smartphone is lost or the authenticator app is deleted.

Two-factor authentication works in the mail.com mailbox on the web, in the mail.com Mail app as well as in third-party email programs.