A central email encryption gateway is essential for a company's email security. It works reliably in the background, verifying digital signatures and decrypting confidential content fully automatically. But this efficient automation introduces a new challenge in daily operations: since decryption and signature verification happen on the gateway rather than locally on the user's device, it is not immediately apparent to the recipient whether an incoming email was signed or securely encrypted in transit.

This is exactly where our approach with mail:u Secure comes in. We create visibility by translating the gateway's completed signature check into clear indicators within the email itself, regardless of which device the employee is using. By selectively adjusting the subject line and attaching a supplementary report for detailed information, we keep users effectively informed — even on devices that offer no other UI elements or warnings.

To make the cryptographic handling transparent, the workflow engine uses a remarkably simple method: it inserts the result of the security check as an indicator directly into the subject line of the email. When an employee opens their inbox, they can see at a glance how the message was processed.

As the administrator, you have complete freedom to define which tags with which labels should be used in your organisation. To cover the full range of security information, the engine supports precise status indicators such as:

• Signature OK: The message is signed and all signatures are valid.
• Partial Signature OK: Used when, for example, an attachment was signed but not the entire message.
• Signature Not OK: The signature verification failed.
• No Signature: There was no signature present in the message.
• Encryption OK: The message was securely encrypted and could be successfully decrypted by the gateway.
• Encryption Not OK: The message remains encrypted; decryption by the gateway was not possible.
• Not Encrypted: The message is not encrypted and was transmitted in plain text.

To prevent the inbox from descending into chaos during longer email threads, the system handles smart cleanup automatically. The built-in function strips old status tags from incoming and outgoing messages before adding new ones.

While the visible subject-line indicator is entirely sufficient for the average user, power users often need more information. For these cases, mail:u Secure provides the option to attach detailed information about the security checks directly to the email. Whether you have this inspection report generated as a well-structured PDF, an HTML document, or a plain text file is entirely up to you. Thanks to our integrated template system, these reports are also fully customisable.

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of this security information is that it is fully integrated into your automated workflows. Suppose an email from a partner arrives, but the signature is missing or invalid. The engine evaluates the situation based on the indicators and makes an autonomous decision based on a pre-defined rule. The message is blocked and safely quarantined through the "Quarantine on Error" setting.

By intelligently adjusting the subject line and providing detailed inspection reports, you make the invisible cryptographic processing of emails visible on every device. This creates measurable transparency in daily email traffic and supports your employees automatically — no technical cryptography knowledge required on their part.