An Apparatus and Method for Securely Processing Electronic Mail

摘要

A method and a system for processing emails in an organisation having a plurality of email users are disclosed. The system (200 comprises a receiver (208) for receiving a plurality of emails; encryption means (201) for encrypting all the received emails with a common encryption key (203) such that each of the received emails is entirely encrypted; an indexed database (202) for storing the encrypted emails; and decryption means including a common decryption key for enabling access by the email users to the emails stored in the database. The system can further include a pre-processor (211) which is arranged to implement a pre-processing step of decrypting received encrypted emails which have been encrypted with encryption keys associated with one or more of the plurality of email users prior to the emails being encrypted with the common encryption key.