Helm lets you run an email server in your home

Helm

• Helm, a $500 device with a $99 yearly subscription
  plan, lets you operate an email server out of your own
  home. 
• Your email and data is stored on the device in your
  home, and it’s encrypted before traveling through Helm’s
  servers. 
• Helm claims to collect very little information from its
  users — just the necessary payment information and device
  diagnostics.
• While no server is completely secure, this could
  provide peace of mind to people who don’t trust large tech
  companies to protect their data. 

It’s not hard to get the impression that big tech companies can’t
effectively keep our data safe. 

Just in the past few weeks,
Google disclosed a security bug that exposed hundreds of
thousands of private accounts on the Google+ social network.
Facebook admitted that
29 million users had private information stolen. It’s easy to
decide to quit using social media sites, but nearly everyone
needs or uses an email service. Email is the backbone of every
internet account — you almost can’t get by in life these days
without an email address. 

One solution is to run your own in-house email server, as plenty
of companies and tech-savvy individuals do. 

This means that a private entity is in control of the email
server and all of the information stored there. There’s no need
to place your trust in a tech company that has proven itself to
be vulnerable to security bugs or breaches. 

But if you’re not an IT pro, the idea of setting  up an
email server can be pretty intimidating. That’s where Helm comes
in.

Helm wants to make that a
reality for the everyday email user — someone who probably
wouldn’t know how to set up an email server from scratch. Helm’s
$500 device is an in-home email server, meaning all of your data
and emails are stored on the device right in your home. Helm
doesn’t collect much information about its users besides the
necessary details like payment information and device
diagnostics, and any communication or data are encrypted when
they leave the Helm device. 

With traditional email services like Gmail or Yahoo, your data
and emails are stored on a server controlled by the email
provider. You don’t have much control over what that company does
with your data.

Helm stores your emails and data in your home, but that doesn’t
mean it’s completely safe. Any server can be attacked, regardless
of where it’s located. However, you’re paying for the control
over your emails and the ability to be free from a tech company
storing your data. Helm also says it hires hackers to try to
locate vulnerabilities in the device or its software, and it
plans to release improvements and boost security through future
software updates. 

You can choose to store a backup of your emails on Helm’s
servers, but those backups are encrypted and require your
security key in order to be decrypted. 

Helm features a standard 120GB of storage, but that can be
increased to up to 5TB with additional hardware. The device also
comes with physical encryption keys for encrypting data locally
on the machine and offline for a secure backup. The device costs
$500, and has a $99 subscription fee for every year after the
included one-year subscription. 

For more information, or to purchase a device, visit Helm’s
website here. 

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