Bermuda Internet provider North Rock Communications yesterday rolled out a new product that allows consumers to ensure the privacy of email communications.

North Rock has partnered with Toronto-based Echoworx, an electronic communications security provider, to create ?North Rock Secure Mail? which enables desktop-to-desktop encryption, foiling those who try to read emails in transit. North Rock, in a Press statement, said subscribers downloads the security feature to add a ?secure? button, that appears in their email software.

The technology behind the offering was said to be PKI, X.509 digital certificates, and S/MIME, methods that safeguard the content of an email.

Although the technology is similar to that used by Bermuda-based digital certificate provider QuoVadis, its scope is more limited, with QuoVadis being able to secure emails and attachments, as well as websites, with its product. The QuoVadis digital certificates are also recognised under Bermuda law as being legally binding.

A North Rock spokesman said ?simplicity? was the main differentiator between the company?s Secure Mail system and secure digital certificates. Under North Rock?s Secure Mail system the recipient does not have to be a subscriber to open a secure mail message.

?Our customers include a large sector of the financial services community and we believe Secure Mail will be an essential component of the way they conduct business across the Internet,? said Vicki Coelho, managing director.

While interest in the North Rock product is coming largely from businesses, it will also be available to residential clients.

No price has yet been set for the service, North Rock said.