The Royal Mail is to enter the realm of email technology by launching its own high-security system.

The traditional Royal Mail postal service has long been mocked by Internet users, who call it "snail mail".

But while email offers almost instant written communication, its growth is being held back by fears that it is not as secure as an old fashioned letter and can easily be read by computer hackers.

With its new system the Royal Mail hopes to combine its reputation for security with the latest email technology.

The scheme aims to make the Royal Mail a communications hub for email users as all messages will be powerfully encoded and the Royal Mail will hold all the security codes.

Such secure email methods have been dubbed Trusted Third Party systems and have many supporters who believe they are the solution to the secure email conundrum.

Royal Mail has signed up with Entrust Technologies, an electronic communication specialist, to provide software for the system.