SSL support for outbound connections has been added to Hurricane MTA Server and can be enabled on a per-domain basis. Using SSL for outbound connections is required in certain circumstances for regulatory or policy compliance, usually in B2B mailings. For example, some institutions that deal with sensitive data (i.e. healthcare, financial) may require that all mail into their domain be sent over an SSL channel.

Using the new features in Hurricane MTA Server, you can customize a Delivery Rule for that domain so that SSL is used when delivering email to that domain. You have two options: try and force. The try option will attempt an SSL connection to the domain, but if the remote server does not support SSL it will revert to a standard non-SSL connection. The Force option will force SSL connections to the domain, and if an SSL connection can not be properly established, the email will defer.

This feature is in the current beta, which will be promoted to production before the end of the month.

July 10, 2009 Update: this feature was released into production on June 30, 2009.