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Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

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Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry I don’t get the part about DKIM. I thought the DKIM signature would only be valid if the signing SMTP server has access to the private key matching the Header-From’s domain’s designated DKIM public key. E: by valid I meant valid and aligned (according to DMARC), sorry

A sender can throw anything they want in the "From:" field and then sign it. The receiver does not have to agree. What would happen is that the receiver would see that the holder of the domain was different than the domain in the "From:" address and on the basis of bad "domain alignment" could reject the email. I now think that the DMARC stuff is a red herring and would actually help make the current mailbox.org beha…

Yes, lack of enforcement by mailbox.org on the Header-From when signing DKIM is the problem for DMARC IMO. It means I can’t trust a DMARC pass due to aligned DKIM.

Mailbox.org’s servers have access to 4 private keys as far as I know. These (I mean the matching public keys) are stated in mailbox.org’s DNS records. If you send from an @mailbox.org address you trust mailbox.org to do checking on the Header-From when signing it, as you have no control over which keys you state in DNS. This is the same situation as for any mail provider with a shared domain.

What’s even worse, when using mailbox.org with a custom domain they will have you state the exact same 4 keys in your domain’s DNS records for DKIM to work. There is no way to upload custom keys. So even someone with a custom domain has to trust mailbox.org to not sign strangers’ e-mails.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry I don’t get the part about DKIM. I thought the DKIM signature would only be valid if the signing SMTP server has access to the private key matching the Header-From’s domain’s designated DKIM public key. E: by valid I meant valid and aligned (according to DMARC), sorry

A sender can throw anything they want in the "From:" field and then sign it. The receiver does not have to agree. What would happen is that the receiver would see that the holder of the domain was different than the domain in the "From:" address and on the basis of bad "domain alignment" could reject the email. I now think that the DMARC stuff is a red herring and would actually help make the current mailbox.org beha…

But since DMARC will also give a passing result with aligned SPF, the Header-From checker has not only to refer from adding a DKIM signature but actually reject the e-mail completely for DMARC to be reliable.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A sender can throw anything they want in the "From:" field and then sign it. The receiver does not have to agree. What would happen is that the receiver would see that the holder of the domain was different than the domain in the "From:" address and on the basis of bad "domain alignment" could reject the email. I now think that the DMARC stuff is a red herring and would actually help make the current mailbox.org beha…

Yes, lack of enforcement by mailbox.org on the Header-From when signing DKIM is the problem for DMARC IMO. It means I can’t trust a DMARC pass due to aligned DKIM. Mailbox.org’s servers have access to 4 private keys as far as I know. These (I mean the matching public keys) are stated in mailbox.org’s DNS records. If you send from an @mailbox.org address you trust mailbox.org to do checking on the Header-From when sig…

The DKIM key is in your DNS. Does mailbox.org provide a DNS service and somehow enforce what you put in there?

Added: Wait, how would that even work? You need to generate your own DKIM key.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, lack of enforcement by mailbox.org on the Header-From when signing DKIM is the problem for DMARC IMO. It means I can’t trust a DMARC pass due to aligned DKIM. Mailbox.org’s servers have access to 4 private keys as far as I know. These (I mean the matching public keys) are stated in mailbox.org’s DNS records. If you send from an @mailbox.org address you trust mailbox.org to do checking on the Header-From when sig…

The DKIM key is in your DNS. Does mailbox.org provide a DNS service and somehow enforce what you put in there? Added: Wait, how would that even work? You need to generate your own DKIM key.

No one is forcing me, but not using it would mean I can’t have DKIM signatures, wouldn’t it? As far as I know there are no mail clients that add the signature before sending it to the MSA, but I might be wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, lack of enforcement by mailbox.org on the Header-From when signing DKIM is the problem for DMARC IMO. It means I can’t trust a DMARC pass due to aligned DKIM. Mailbox.org’s servers have access to 4 private keys as far as I know. These (I mean the matching public keys) are stated in mailbox.org’s DNS records. If you send from an @mailbox.org address you trust mailbox.org to do checking on the Header-From when sig…

The DKIM key is in your DNS. Does mailbox.org provide a DNS service and somehow enforce what you put in there? Added: Wait, how would that even work? You need to generate your own DKIM key.

Re the addendum: No, mailbox.org does not support own keys.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#246

Office 365 is a great deal. For 1 user its $70 per year, up to 6 its $100 per year. You get a lot of storage and all of office. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/outlook/outloo...

It's been said in other threads, but just to be complete. You need to have your domain with GoDaddy, which is batshit insane. Now, it it were a reputable domain company I wouldn't quite mind but this is GoDaddy we're talking about.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#247
post #48

How is self-hosted email these days? Are there web-based email clients with search, filters, and labels?

Zimbra is the defecto mail solution for an integrated (mail calendar chat) solution. Horde is still the best solution for something completely FOSS. Outside of that there’s mailu which feels like a bunch of services flying in unison.. kinda like an old GM. All of this to say it’s not worth hosting your email because your smtp server doesn’t have any reputation. I had a mail server that never sent spam or junk mail, w…

I can live with a smarthost for sending, they are the easiest to switch out and very cheap. I'm just wondering about the receiving side.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#249
post #53

As alternative I would suggest Office365, but If you used Google workspace for so long, why not just pay Google? Why you have to change. Just pay and do nothing... They invested billions for you to use it for free so long. Its a good service.

Google Workspace is expensive: $6/mo for 30GB. Microsoft will give you 1TB plus the Microsoft Office apps (plus email) for that price. If you have a family of 6 with a custom domain, Google is going to charge you $36/mo while Microsoft will charge you $8.33/mo - plus each person gets 1TB of storage and the Microsoft Office apps. I think the reason to switch is that Google decided to use the same pricing that they wan…

How are you getting $8.33 for a family of six? Their cheapest family plan is $100 usd.

Re: Ask HN: Best hosted alternative to Google Workspace for email?

#250
post #249
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Workspace is expensive: $6/mo for 30GB. Microsoft will give you 1TB plus the Microsoft Office apps (plus email) for that price. If you have a family of 6 with a custom domain, Google is going to charge you $36/mo while Microsoft will charge you $8.33/mo - plus each person gets 1TB of storage and the Microsoft Office apps. I think the reason to switch is that Google decided to use the same pricing that they wan…

How are you getting $8.33 for a family of six? Their cheapest family plan is $100 usd.

8.33*12=100
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