How Email Forwarding Works — Alias Routing Explained

CloakMetric acts as a secure relay between the outside world and your real inbox. Here’s how it works under the hood.

Receiving Emails

When someone sends an email to your alias (e.g., shop-amazon@cloakmetric.com):

1. Email arrives at CloakMetric’s mail servers.
2. Alias lookup — CloakMetric identifies which alias received the email and checks if it’s active.
3. Forwarding — If the alias is active, the email is forwarded to your verified primary inbox address.
4. Logging — The email is logged with metadata (sender, timestamp, delivery status) for your inbox view.

If the alias is inactive, the email is silently dropped. If the alias has been deleted, the email bounces back to the sender.

Sending Emails (Replying)

When you reply to a forwarded email:

1. Reply intercepted — CloakMetric receives your reply.
2. Alias masking — Your real email address is replaced with the alias address.
3. Delivery — The email is sent to the recipient from the alias, so they never see your real address.
4. Logging — The outbound email is logged with delivery status tracking.

Custom Domain Flow

For aliases on a custom domain, the flow is the same, but:

• Incoming emails are routed via the MX record you configured pointing to CloakMetric.
• Outgoing emails are authenticated using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records on your domain.
• This improves deliverability because the email comes from your own trusted domain.

Email Status Tracking

Each email is tracked through these statuses:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Email is queued for delivery
Processing	Email is being sent
Delivered	Successfully delivered to the recipient
Failed	Delivery failed (bounce)
Blocked	Blocked by safety rules (e.g., risky alias)

Privacy Guarantees

• CloakMetric never reads your email content for advertising or data mining.
• Email logs store metadata (sender, subject, timestamps) for your inbox functionality.
• You can delete email history at any time.
• All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest.