Secure & Automated Email Communication
Business Challenges
Email is the backbone of business communication – and at the same time the primary target for cyberattacks and a key risk factor for compliance violations. In practice, highly sensitive data – from contracts and construction plans to personal information – is transmitted unprotected every day. Legal and regulatory requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the NIS2 Directive or industry-specific standards (e.g. B3S in healthcare) demand fully verifiable concepts from companies to ensure confidentiality and integrity.
Attempts to establish end-to-end email encryption in a decentralized way at the end-user level, however, often fail in practice. Complex key management, poor user acceptance and the lack of the necessary cryptographic infrastructure (such as S/MIME or OpenPGP certificates) on the recipient's side frequently result in security policies being bypassed in everyday work.
mail:u Secure addresses these infrastructural and operational challenges with a consistently centralized approach.
As a server-side email gateway with S/MIME and PGP support, the platform completely decouples the complexity of cryptography from the end user. All incoming and outgoing email traffic is deeply analyzed in the background and processed according to granular, company-specific rule sets.
The platform fully automatically selects the optimal encryption method, manages certificate lifecycle, and ensures legally compliant logging of all processes.
Nothing changes for employees in their established workflows: they continue to compose, send and receive emails in their familiar client environment (e.g. Microsoft Outlook). In the background, emails are now signed and encrypted with S/MIME or PGP, and replies are decrypted with the signature verified.
For greater transparency and control for the end user, Outlook add-ins such as Secflow & Secedit are also available (link secflow), as well as our Portal (link portal) for sending to any recipient without known key material.
Modules Overview
The platform is built on a modular architecture. Companies activate exactly the components required to implement their individual security, routing and compliance policies. All modules integrate seamlessly and are managed centrally via the gateway.
Workflow Engine
The central control unit. It analyzes message content, attachments and recipients, and automatically enforces the correct encryption method based on your rule sets.
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Portal
Secures communication with recipients who have no crypto infrastructure of their own. External partners retrieve messages in the browser, reply encrypted and download conversations as EML or PDF files for their own archiving.
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FileLink
Automatically replaces large file attachments with a protected download link. File transfer takes place securely via the gateway – including an expiry date, configurable retrieval limits and a secure return channel.
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SecFlow & SECEDIT
The Outlook add-in for user-driven email classification. Users label messages directly while composing them (e.g. as "Confidential") to specifically trigger dedicated encryption workflows.
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PKI Automation
Central certificate management without local administrative effort. The module handles the automatic request, renewal and validation of S/MIME and OpenPGP certificates directly in the gateway.
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The Workflow Engine is the gateway's central decision-making instance. It analyzes incoming and outgoing emails (headers, body, attachments) in real time and applies flexibly configurable security policies. Instead of rigid transport rules, it enables the chaining of complex conditions (IF-THEN logic) to automatically control encryption, signing, FileLink transfers or redirects.
The Outlook add-in shows a summarized result of the following sending before sending. Through a simple overview, the user learns whether the email can be sent according to the specifications:
• Portal or PDF container when key material is missing
• Policy violation, e.g., private address or missing classification
This allows the user to very easily evaluate before sending whether the sensitive information can/may be sent in this way. In addition to viewing the processing, the user can specifically force or adjust encryption. These functions represent an optional way to involve the user in the decision with minimal effort, even without knowledge of encryption or leaving the familiar tools.
Learn more about SecFlow
Healthcare (KRITIS / B3S)
Protection of patient data through enforced encryption, password-protected PDFs and legally compliant audit trails. Full compatibility with telematics infrastructures.
Public Authorities & Administration
Secure, accessible communication with citizens and businesses without their own crypto infrastructure – enabled via the web portal or secure PDF containers.
Research & Industry
Protection of intellectual property (IP) and design data. Seamless exchange of extremely large file attachments (CAD, logs) via integrated FileLink processes.
Law Firms & Financial Service Providers
Automated mandatory S/MIME for client communication as well as secure return channels for receiving sensitive documents to fulfil professional confidentiality obligations.
Operating Models – Flexible and Future-Proof
SaaS
Multi-tenant operation in our ISO-27001-certified data centers from Germany
Private Cloud
Operation in a dedicated corporate cloud
On-Prem Appliance
Local installation in your own data center
• Rule-based workflow engine – automated central encryption
• SecFlow Outlook add-in – visualization before sending
• FileLink – secure, GDPR-compliant alternative to WeTransfer
• PDF encryption – possible even without key material
• Sovereign operating models – SaaS in a German ISO-27001 data center, dedicated private cloud or on-premises
• Fully automated PKI – no more admin effort
• Portal: for sending to recipients without key material
• Made in Germany – development, hosting & support
Automatic S/MIME Renewal
Certificates expire in less than 30 days. PKI Automation requests new keys via the trust center interface, rolls them out and revokes the old ones – without a helpdesk ticket
Confidential Ad-hoc Sending
An employee needs to send an HR contract to a personal email address. They select the "Confidential" label in SecFlow. The gateway automatically converts the email into a password-protected PDF and sends the password to the recipient via SMS.
CAD Data Transfer
An engineer attaches a 120 MB ZIP file. Instead of being blocked by the Exchange server, the gateway offloads the file and sends the partner a time-limited FileLink with a download limit.
Our Whitepaper to mail:u secure
Our white paper offers you a comprehensive insight into the latest technologies and best practices for secure communication. Discover how our customized solution mail:u secure efficiently secures your business processes.
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