Private Mailbox (end-to-end encryption at rest)

Private Mailbox is an optional upgrade for customers with strict
confidentiality needs. When enabled, incoming mail to your mailbox is encrypted
with your own certificate the moment it arrives, so that even MyPandos
administrators cannot read your stored messages. It is off by default and
enabled per mailbox on request.

What it does

- Every new message is encrypted to your S/MIME certificate before it is
written to disk. Only someone holding your matching private key can read
it — and that key never leaves your control.
- Your mail apps (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird) decrypt it automatically
once your certificate is installed on your device.

What it does not do — please read before enabling

We want you to choose this with clear eyes:

- If you lose your private key, your encrypted mail is gone permanently.
Nobody — including MyPandos — can recover it. You are responsible for backing
up your key.
- It protects stored message contents. While a message is being delivered,
and in the compliance archive (if your plan includes one), it is still
processed in readable form. It is not a guarantee that a message is never
seen in transit.
- Message subjects, senders, and recipients are not encrypted — only the
body and attachments. This is what lets mail still be delivered and filtered.
- Webmail will show encrypted messages as an attachment unless you import
your certificate into webmail (which would place a copy of your key on the
server and weaken the "only you can read it" guarantee). Most Private Mailbox
customers read encrypted mail in a desktop/phone app instead.
- Server-side search of message contents stops working for encrypted mail.
- Only mail delivered after you enable it is encrypted; older mail stays as
it was.

How to enable it

Contact your MyPandos administrator. You'll provide your public S/MIME
certificate (never your private key), confirm you understand the points above,
and we enable it on your mailbox. You can get an S/MIME certificate from a
provider such as Actalis or Sectigo, or generate one — we can guide you.

Is regular MyPandos mail encrypted?

Yes, at other layers — see Email security and privacy.
Private Mailbox is the specific option that makes stored mail unreadable *even to
us*.