Privacy is more than a feature

Who are we?

"Our mission is to unleash the potential of encryption & peer-to-peer technology to give you total ownership and control over your private data."

Telios is a private email service that allows you to securely send and receive end-to-end encrypted emails over a peer-to-peer network. We give you complete ownership of your data by encrypting and storing everything on your local devices. No third party, government, or even Telios can read your unencrypted data. The only way to access your unencrypted data is by using a memorized master password on your physical device.The service was designed to use external servers as little as possible and know next to nothing about each user. Your devices have absolute control over how your data is shared, encrypted, and stored and will default to using the peer-to-peer network whenever possible.

Telios comes from the Greek word Telos, and according to Aristotle, Telos is the full potential of a person or an object. Our mission is to unleash the potential of encryption & peer-to-peer technology to give you total ownership and control over your private data. Let's redefine online privacy!

YOUR data, YOUR rules!

Why should online and physical privacy be valued equally?

"If you're going to trust one person, let it be yourself."

Virtual privacy and privacy in the physical world respond to a different sentiment yet are equally crucial to respect individual freedom. $100 cash or in your digital bank account is of equal value , $100. Even though online privacy might be digital, it still responds to the very idea of privacy. We are aware of how our private data is used, however, we still give in our personal information because it has always been the way of using online services. Tailored customer advertisements bring value to users but building psychological profiles does not respond to customers' needs.

At Telios, we redefine online privacy. We believe that YOU are the best suited to manage your private data. You should own YOUR private data. "If you're going to trust one person, let it be yourself." said former rugbyman Robert Tew.

Online Privacy must become the default

"Telios sets privacy as the default, so you can share your private data as an option."

Today, online privacy is optional; it must be the default. You can improve your privacy by changing your settings, yet 95% of people do not change their settings. Let's illustrate and emphasize the influence of default settings.

In 2007, cab drivers in New York City had to provide a credit card reader to enable contactless payments. The default tipping option was 20%, 25%, or 30%. Customers also could customize their tips. However, the majority selected one of the three default options resulting in a 120% increase for the average tip amount ($10 to $22). Users choose default settings out of convenience or because of a lack of knowledge.

Telios sets privacy as the default, so you can share your private data as an option. Telios peer-to-peer network (P2P) gives YOU control of what, how, and to what extent you share YOUR private data. We reshuffle the cards of data ownership. YOU become the primary decision-maker.

How does Telios put YOU in charge of YOUR data?

What is a peer-to-peer network?

Telios uses peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to enable its users to communicate. A P2P network is a decentralized network where individuals can share information without requiring a third party. Peers are equally privileged participants in the network and function as both "clients" (customers) and "servers" (suppliers). For example, online marketplaces are P2P services. They enable buyers and sellers to switch their position. A P2P network is formed by nodes or computers that interact with each other. The more nodes, the more powerful and resilient the network is. A serverless network rules out a single point of failure and prevents a complete shutdown of the network. In the case where several computers go down, communication is still possible between active peers.

Road to data ownership

A P2P network brings a different meaning to users' private data ownership. It differs from client-server architecture, depending on servers (suppliers) to provide information to the requester (client/customer). An example of a client-server architecture is Google. Google services represent a server where a Google account is a client. Let's illustrate the difference of ownership between centralized (client-server architecture) and decentralized (P2P) models. When a user decides to store content such as photos on Google Drive, Google owns your content. In contrast, users can keep their content on their own devices on P2P communication, thus owning their information. However, even though you own and control your data, it still needs to be secure.

Telios' End-to-end encryption

Telios security is cutting edge! We believe privacy and security are closely related. We use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to protect your private data. E2EE makes your communication only readable by you and the person or the group of people you decide to communicate with. Telios differentiates itself by encrypting the metadata as well. In this case, the email headers. An email header contains information about:

• The sender
• The sender's local IP address
• The recipient
• The time the email was sent
• The email's route, which shows how the email got to the destination.

That’s already a lot of information and makes the body of the email not as relevant as we could think. “Metadata is what allows an actual enumerated understanding, a precise record of all the private activities in all of our lives. It shows our associations, our political affiliations and our actual activities.”. Edward Snowden

E2EE is similar to a treasure hunt in the physical world. Alice sends to Bob's address (Bob's public key) an encrypted treasure map. Only Bob can decrypt it using his private key. After authentication, thanks to Alices' signature (Alice's private key) on the map, Bob can retrieve the treasure (email). Technology is either beautiful or invisible, and Telios' encryption happens in the background to bring you the most user-friendly experience. Because we believe in transparency to build trust and long-lasting relationships, our code is open source.

"Trust, but verify." - Open Source Code

Telios client codebase is open source. You can verify the encryption methods used and validate our privacy claims. We believe that feedback and transparency will help us grow to sharpen our product.

Telios' core values

At Telios, we value:

• Privacy
• Security
• Data Ownership
• Transparency

Online privacy is at a tipping point. Join the new wave!