Sub Rosa Usage Details

Email for the Truly Paranoid

Sub Rosa is Novo Ordo's secure email service. It is based on secure links, PGP encryption, operating in a sympathetic jurisdiction, and user anonymity. It is available by subscription.

Sub Rosa secure email service is designed to reduce, to the greatest extent possible, the opporunity for anyone other than the intended recipient, to read a private email. It has an extensive list of features.

When used in conjunction with our NoName email service, traffic analysis may also be evaded.

Use

Upon subscribing to the Sub Rosa email service, an email account will be automatically created on our server using your chosen identity. You may chose an identity that is recognizable to others, such as your name, or not, depending upon your specific needs. The domain name will be usually be "novo-ordo.com" unless special arrangements are made. If anonymity is one of your requirements, be sure to use an anonymous payment method so that we do not know who you are.

There are two ways of accessing your Sub Rosa account:

More detailed instructions can be found here.

Using Your Local Email Client

Setup an email reader (Thunderbird would be a good choice), to connect to our server using a TLS encrypted link.

Install a PGP encryption pluggin, such as Enigmail, into the email reader. This will allow you to encrypt your messages on your computer before sending them. Generate your public/private key pair and publish the public key or send it to those with whom you need to communicate with privately.

Whenever you send a private email, encrypt it using the recipient's public key. Whenever you receive an encrypted email, decrypt it using your private key.

Using the Webmail Interface

Bring up you web browser (FireFox is recommended but most any will work) and go to https://www.novo-ordo.com/webmail. Your user name is your complete email address (i.e. mymail@novo-ordo.com) and your password is whatever you set it to be.

The webmail interface has an option for GPG encryption. Although this does increase your security, it is less secure than using encryption on the mail client running on your own computer. To use it, click on "Options" and follow the instructions for "GPG Plugin Options".

How It Works

When you send an email, we receive it over a 256-bit encrypted TLS link. Our email server then encrypts it again and stores it in the recipient's account, if on our server or, forwards it to the recipient on a foreign server. The extra encryption adds to the difficulty an attacker would have in finding and reading your email.

When you receive an email, we encrypt it before placing it in your account and decrypt it when you access it. This is transparent to you and is just an added layer of security. You may access it through your email reader or the webmail interface. If the sender encrypted the message, you will need to decrypt it with your private key.

If you also need to avoid traffic analysis, you will send your emails through a special address on our server (you will be given instructions when you subscribe) that will route it through the Mixmaster remailer network. See the NoName technical details to learn how that works.

Subscribe Now

Subscribe now to Sub Rosa Secure Email.