[dmw1]

It's interesting you say that, because for me personally, security is one of the main benefits of a Google account.

If this is the main motivation here then I would look into Google's advanced protection program that allows you to lock down your account with two Yubikeys and disables all other forms of 2FA.

As far as I'm aware, you still can't use a YubiKey to secure a Proton Mail account.

[shadowAuror]

Interesting point of view - for me security and privacy was the primary reason I moved from Google Account. I moved to Microsoft 365 Family. I can connect using Yubikeys - one that lives in my keychain and the second stored security at home as a backup.

[dmw1]

The way I see it, perhaps I can get some marginal privacy benefits from another provider, however I'd be compromising on security.

I am of the opinion that Google have the best security in the industry, have the best incentives, most investment and are pretty much guaranteed to be around in 20 years from now.

The most high value accounts in my life around banking, investment, taxes etc are all tied to my personal identity anyway, so privacy is less important to me, I'd rather have the most established and secure service. I don't use email for communication so E2E encryption etc is not hugely relevant to me.

[arubania2]

The way I see it, you need to differentiate between security and privacy. Gmail is one of the best providers security-wise, but obviously one of the worst ones wrt privacy.

[fsflover]

Note that sometimes your account at Google is so secure that even you can't access it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30051054.

[softwarebeware]

Ok but I found that 2FA even was a hoax since IMAP connection could still be established completely outside it. Any idea if you can still IMAP an email even if 2 yubikeys may be required to log in online?