A UK firm has launched a secure email service that it claims can eliminate leaks of private and confidential information and put an end to unsolicited spam.

According to email service provider Jeftel, the technology allows communications to be carried out on a one-to-one basis, without any danger from monitoring, snooping and spam.

Subscribers receive a personal '.safe' email address as well as a secure email application that integrates with existing email inboxes.

This configuration, Jeftel explained, is designed to allow customers to email other .safe users without passing data through internal or third-party mail servers. For such communications the firm guarantees that no copies of mail messages will be made at any point in the chain.

Additional encryption and authentication aims to ensure that emails can only be read by the intended recipient.

"While the internet has changed the way we work, leaks, snooping, mischief and mishap are all too common," said Robert Barr, head of development at Jeftel in a statement.

"You only have to look at the daily papers to see how much news is generated through intercepted or misplaced electronic communication."

Barr argued that such problems occur because business-critical emails concerning sensitive subjects are treated the same way as other, more trivial, communications.

"They go through insecure servers, often monitored by relatively junior IT staff, and have up to five copies made along the way at every hop. It's no surprise therefore that leaks happen so often," he said.

Jeftel is targeting its .safe service, which costs £25 per user per year, at firms that require very secure email handling to transmit material such as management reporting, investor relations, and strategic and legal communications.

The company added that it developed the service following a meeting with legal company Mischon de Reya which highlighted the need for greater email privacy.