diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3037de4f16f676087b3bf46f0c91a2e809a71ea7..e0a5b384c8c50ed2b0e50b62b8584ad16ffe77e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Other variables that are used in this role (with default values in defaults/main
 * logstash_port : port on which logstash server is listening for log collection (defaults to 5044)
 * logstash_public_ip : logstash public ip address for log collection (defaults to 127.0.0.1)
 * private_pull : whether a scheduled pulling of files via SFTP is to be performed on server (defaults to false)
+* `server_security__manage_mail`: manage e-mails with `ssmtp` (default to ̀€enabled`)
 
 
 Dependencies
diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index faa0c3221eb20ce18d94fcdb5ec4f455c68a3658..c416f4598dae184296d7b8967f345efe37da9939 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ---
+server_security__manage_mail: 'enabled'
 default_maintenance_email: "maintenance@example.org"
 default_smtp_server: "smtp.example.org"
 default_sshd_port: 10022
diff --git a/tasks/mail.yml b/tasks/mail.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..07b19e59c15af977bd3a5896bd8819a7730d5bbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/mail.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+- name: remove mail packages not necessary
+  apt:
+    name: [bsd-mailx mailutils postfix]
+    autoremove: true
+    state: absent
+  when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
+
+- name: check that ssmtp is installed
+  package: name=ssmtp state=present
+
+- name: Check that sendmail redirects to ssmtp
+  file:
+    src: ssmtp
+    dest: /usr/sbin/sendmail
+    force: true
+    owner: root
+    group: mail
+    state: link
+
+- name: configuration file for ssmtp
+  template:
+    src: ssmtp.conf.j2
+    dest: /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
+    owner: root
+    group: mail
+    mode: '0640'
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 33c59ca3e4ab74170261749a902fcf15ca19288b..3ae61e633932dead57eb2951bcd0b00495f012aa 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,14 +1,7 @@
 ---
-
-- name: remove mail packages not necessary
-  apt:
-    name: [bsd-mailx mailutils postfix]
-    autoremove: true
-    state: absent
-  when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
-
-- name: check that ssmtp is installed
-  package: name=ssmtp state=present
+- name: import mail tasks
+  import_tasks: mail.yml
+  when: server_security__manage_mail == 'enabled'
 
 - name: install fail2ban, iptables-persistent and auditd
   package:
@@ -30,15 +23,6 @@
     state: present
   when: ansible_check_mode
 
-- name: Check that sendmail redirects to ssmtp
-  file:
-    src: ssmtp
-    dest: /usr/sbin/sendmail
-    force: true
-    owner: root
-    group: mail
-    state: link
-
 - name: make fail2ban persistent
   service: name=fail2ban enabled=yes state=started
 
@@ -136,11 +120,3 @@
     group: root
     mode: '0640'
   notify: restart auditd
-
-- name: configuration file for ssmtp
-  template:
-    src: ssmtp.conf.j2
-    dest: /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
-    owner: root
-    group: mail
-    mode: '0640'