ProtonMail decided to pay a $6000 ransom to cyberattackers lobbing a crippling DDoS attack at the service -- but this did nothing to prevent the attack.

The encrypted email service revealed on Thursday the extent of the distributed denial-of-service attack which began on Tuesday, 3 November. The attack, which sent vast amounts of traffic to ProtonMail leading to the overload of systems to the point that legitimate traffic could not get through, has stopped -- but the service has warned it may come under attack again. ProtonMail is used by the privacy-conscious to protect their online communication.