diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
index 16665c9..673ca55 100644
--- a/.golangci.yml
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ issues:
     - path: _test\.go
       linters:
         - gocyclo
+        - gocognit
         - errcheck
         - dupl
         - gosec
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b43ad0c..1a74193 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ env vars
 * **POSTMOOGLE_DB_DSN** - database connection string
 * **POSTMOOGLE_DB_DIALECT** - database dialect (postgres, sqlite3)
 * **POSTMOOGLE_MAXSIZE** - max email size (including attachments) in megabytes
+* **POSTMOOGLE_USERS** - a space-separated list of whitelisted users allowed to use the bridge. If not defined, everyone is allowed. Example rule: `@someone:example.com @another:example.com @bot.*:example.com @*:another.com`
 
 You can find default values in [config/defaults.go](config/defaults.go)
 
diff --git a/bot/bot.go b/bot/bot.go
index 42db622..d731b7e 100644
--- a/bot/bot.go
+++ b/bot/bot.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package bot
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/getsentry/sentry-go"
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ type Bot struct {
 	federation              bool
 	prefix                  string
 	domain                  string
+	allowedUsers            []*regexp.Regexp
 	rooms                   sync.Map
 	log                     *logger.Logger
 	lp                      *linkpearl.Linkpearl
@@ -27,16 +29,17 @@ type Bot struct {
 }
 
 // New creates a new matrix bot
-func New(lp *linkpearl.Linkpearl, log *logger.Logger, prefix, domain string, noowner, federation bool) *Bot {
+func New(lp *linkpearl.Linkpearl, log *logger.Logger, prefix, domain string, noowner, federation bool, allowedUsers []*regexp.Regexp) *Bot {
 	return &Bot{
-		noowner:    noowner,
-		federation: federation,
-		prefix:     prefix,
-		domain:     domain,
-		rooms:      sync.Map{},
-		log:        log,
-		lp:         lp,
-		mu:         map[id.RoomID]*sync.Mutex{},
+		noowner:      noowner,
+		federation:   federation,
+		prefix:       prefix,
+		domain:       domain,
+		allowedUsers: allowedUsers,
+		rooms:        sync.Map{},
+		log:          log,
+		lp:           lp,
+		mu:           map[id.RoomID]*sync.Mutex{},
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/bot/command.go b/bot/command.go
index 40438e0..0774aea 100644
--- a/bot/command.go
+++ b/bot/command.go
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ func (b *Bot) runStop(ctx context.Context, checkAllowed bool) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if checkAllowed && !cfg.Allowed(b.noowner, evt.Sender) {
+	if checkAllowed && !b.Allowed(evt.Sender, cfg) {
 		b.Notice(ctx, evt.RoomID, "you don't have permission to do that")
 		return
 	}
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ func (b *Bot) setOption(ctx context.Context, name, value string) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if !cfg.Allowed(b.noowner, evt.Sender) {
+	if !b.Allowed(evt.Sender, cfg) {
 		b.Notice(ctx, evt.RoomID, "you don't have permission to do that, kupo")
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/bot/settings.go b/bot/settings.go
index bc933ed..6ee78eb 100644
--- a/bot/settings.go
+++ b/bot/settings.go
@@ -19,20 +19,6 @@ type settingsOld struct {
 	NoSender bool
 }
 
-// Allowed checks if change is allowed
-func (s settings) Allowed(noowner bool, userID id.UserID) bool {
-	if noowner {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	owner := s.Owner()
-	if owner == "" {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	return owner == userID.String()
-}
-
 // Get option
 func (s settings) Get(key string) string {
 	value := s[strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(key))]
@@ -118,3 +104,21 @@ func (b *Bot) getSettings(roomID id.RoomID) (settings, error) {
 func (b *Bot) setSettings(roomID id.RoomID, cfg settings) error {
 	return utils.UnwrapError(b.lp.GetClient().SetRoomAccountData(roomID, settingskey, cfg))
 }
+
+// Allowed checks if change is allowed
+func (b *Bot) Allowed(userID id.UserID, cfg settings) bool {
+	if !utils.Match(userID.String(), b.allowedUsers) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	if b.noowner {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	owner := cfg.Owner()
+	if owner == "" {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return owner == userID.String()
+}
diff --git a/cmd/cmd.go b/cmd/cmd.go
index dcd3ec7..4ccf225 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -26,7 +26,13 @@ var (
 
 func main() {
 	quit := make(chan struct{})
-	cfg := config.New()
+
+	cfg, err := config.New()
+	if err != nil {
+		log = logger.New("postmoogle.", "info")
+		log.Fatal("cannot read config: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	log = logger.New("postmoogle.", cfg.LogLevel)
 
 	log.Info("#############################")
@@ -81,7 +87,7 @@ func initBot(cfg *config.Config) {
 		// nolint // Fatal = panic, not os.Exit()
 		log.Fatal("cannot initialize matrix bot: %v", err)
 	}
-	mxb = bot.New(lp, mxlog, cfg.Prefix, cfg.Domain, cfg.NoOwner, cfg.Federation)
+	mxb = bot.New(lp, mxlog, cfg.Prefix, cfg.Domain, cfg.NoOwner, cfg.Federation, cfg.Users)
 	log.Debug("bot has been created")
 }
 
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 4735b55..6c4804f 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -1,14 +1,29 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+
 	"gitlab.com/etke.cc/go/env"
+
+	"gitlab.com/etke.cc/postmoogle/utils"
 )
 
 const prefix = "postmoogle"
 
 // New config
-func New() *Config {
+func New() (*Config, error) {
 	env.SetPrefix(prefix)
+
+	mxidPatterns := env.Slice("users")
+	regexPatterns, err := utils.WildcardMXIDsToRegexes(mxidPatterns)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
+			"failed to convert wildcard user patterns (`%s`) to regular expression: %s",
+			mxidPatterns,
+			err,
+		)
+	}
+
 	cfg := &Config{
 		Homeserver:   env.String("homeserver", defaultConfig.Homeserver),
 		Login:        env.String("login", defaultConfig.Login),
@@ -21,6 +36,7 @@ func New() *Config {
 		Federation:   env.Bool("federation"),
 		MaxSize:      env.Int("maxsize", defaultConfig.MaxSize),
 		StatusMsg:    env.String("statusmsg", defaultConfig.StatusMsg),
+		Users:        *regexPatterns,
 		Sentry: Sentry{
 			DSN: env.String("sentry.dsn", defaultConfig.Sentry.DSN),
 		},
@@ -31,5 +47,5 @@ func New() *Config {
 		},
 	}
 
-	return cfg
+	return cfg, nil
 }
diff --git a/config/types.go b/config/types.go
index 5dc8985..4920919 100644
--- a/config/types.go
+++ b/config/types.go
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package config
 
+import "regexp"
+
 // Config of Postmoogle
 type Config struct {
 	// Homeserver url
@@ -26,6 +28,8 @@ type Config struct {
 	MaxSize int
 	// StatusMsg of the bot
 	StatusMsg string
+	// Users holds list of allowed users (wildcards supported), e.g.: @*:example.com, @bot.*:example.com, @admin:*. Empty = *
+	Users []*regexp.Regexp
 
 	// DB config
 	DB DB
diff --git a/utils/user.go b/utils/user.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e8c59e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/user.go
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+package utils
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// WildcardMXIDsToRegexes converts a list of wildcard patterns to a list of regular expressions
+func WildcardMXIDsToRegexes(wildCardPatterns []string) (*[]*regexp.Regexp, error) {
+	regexPatterns := make([]*regexp.Regexp, len(wildCardPatterns))
+
+	for idx, wildCardPattern := range wildCardPatterns {
+		regex, err := parseMXIDWildcard(wildCardPattern)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse allowed user rule `%s`: %s", wildCardPattern, err)
+		}
+		regexPatterns[idx] = regex
+	}
+
+	return &regexPatterns, nil
+}
+
+// Match tells if the given user id is allowed to use the bot, according to the given whitelist
+func Match(userID string, allowed []*regexp.Regexp) bool {
+	// No whitelisted users means everyone is whitelisted
+	if len(allowed) == 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	for _, regex := range allowed {
+		if regex.MatchString(userID) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+// parseMXIDWildcard parses a user whitelisting wildcard rule and returns a regular expression which corresponds to it
+//
+// Example conversion: `@bot.*.something:*.example.com` -> `^bot\.([^:@]*)\.something:([^:@]*)\.example.com$`
+// Example of recognized wildcard patterns: `@someone:example.com`, `@*:example.com`, `@bot.*:example.com`, `@someone:*`, `@someone:*.example.com`
+//
+// The `*` wildcard character is normally interpretted as "a number of literal characters or an empty string".
+// Our implementation below matches this (yielding `([^:@])*`), which could provide a slightly suboptimal regex in these cases:
+// - `@*:example.com` -> `^@([^:@])*:example\.com$`, although `^@([^:@])+:example\.com$` would be preferable
+// - `@someone:*` -> `@someone:([^:@])*$`, although `@someone:([^:@])+$` would be preferable
+// When it's a bare wildcard (`*`, instead of `*.example.com`) we likely prefer to yield a regex that matches **at least one character**.
+// This probably doesn't matter because mxids that we'll match against are all valid and fully complete.
+func parseMXIDWildcard(wildCardRule string) (*regexp.Regexp, error) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(wildCardRule, "@") {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("rules need to be fully-qualified, starting with a @")
+	}
+
+	remainingRule := wildCardRule[1:]
+	if strings.Contains(remainingRule, "@") {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("rules cannot contain more than one @")
+	}
+
+	parts := strings.Split(remainingRule, ":")
+	if len(parts) != 2 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("expected exactly 2 parts in the rule, separated by `:`")
+	}
+
+	localPart := parts[0]
+	localPartPattern, err := getRegexPatternForPart(localPart)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert local part `%s` to regex: %s", localPart, err)
+	}
+
+	domainPart := parts[1]
+	domainPartPattern, err := getRegexPatternForPart(domainPart)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert domain part `%s` to regex: %s", domainPart, err)
+	}
+
+	finalPattern := fmt.Sprintf("^@%s:%s$", localPartPattern, domainPartPattern)
+
+	regex, err := regexp.Compile(finalPattern)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to compile regex `%s`: %s", finalPattern, err)
+	}
+
+	return regex, nil
+}
+
+func getRegexPatternForPart(part string) (string, error) {
+	if part == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("rejecting empty part")
+	}
+
+	var pattern strings.Builder
+	for _, rune := range part {
+		if rune == '*' {
+			// We match everything except for `:` and `@`, because that would be an invalid MXID anyway.
+			//
+			// If the whole part is `*` (only) instead of merely containing `*` within it,
+			// we may also consider replacing it with `([^:@]+)` (+, instead of *).
+			// See parseMXIDWildcard for notes about this.
+			pattern.WriteString("([^:@]*)")
+			continue
+		}
+
+		pattern.WriteString(regexp.QuoteMeta(string(rune)))
+	}
+
+	return pattern.String(), nil
+}
diff --git a/utils/user_test.go b/utils/user_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5068204
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/user_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+package utils
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestRuleToRegex(t *testing.T) {
+	type testDataDefinition struct {
+		name           string
+		checkedValue   string
+		expectedResult string
+		expectedError  bool
+	}
+
+	tests := []testDataDefinition{
+		{
+			name:           "simple pattern without wildcards succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			expectedResult: `^@someone:example\.com$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with wildcard as the whole local part succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@*:example.com",
+			expectedResult: `^@([^:@]*):example\.com$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with wildcard within the local part succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@bot.*.something:example.com",
+			expectedResult: `^@bot\.([^:@]*)\.something:example\.com$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with wildcard as the whole domain part succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:*",
+			expectedResult: `^@someone:([^:@]*)$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with wildcard within the domain part succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:*.organization.com",
+			expectedResult: `^@someone:([^:@]*)\.organization\.com$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with wildcard in both parts succeeds",
+			checkedValue:   "@*:*",
+			expectedResult: `^@([^:@]*):([^:@]*)$`,
+			expectedError:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern that does not appear fully-qualified fails",
+			checkedValue:   "someone:example.com",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern that does not appear fully-qualified fails",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with empty domain part fails",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with empty local part fails",
+			checkedValue:   "@:example.com",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with multiple @ fails",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone@someone:example.com",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "pattern with multiple : fails",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:someone:example.com",
+			expectedResult: ``,
+			expectedError:  true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, testData := range tests {
+		func(testData testDataDefinition) {
+			t.Run(testData.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+				actualResult, err := parseMXIDWildcard(testData.checkedValue)
+
+				if testData.expectedError {
+					if err != nil {
+						return
+					}
+
+					t.Errorf("expected an error, but did not get one")
+				}
+
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("did not expect an error, but got one: %s", err)
+				}
+
+				if actualResult.String() == testData.expectedResult {
+					return
+				}
+
+				t.Errorf(
+					"Expected `%s` to yield `%s`, not `%s`",
+					testData.checkedValue,
+					testData.expectedResult,
+					actualResult.String(),
+				)
+			})
+		}(testData)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMatch(t *testing.T) {
+	type testDataDefinition struct {
+		name           string
+		checkedValue   string
+		allowedUsers   []string
+		expectedResult bool
+	}
+
+	tests := []testDataDefinition{
+		{
+			name:           "Empty allowed users allows anyone",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "Direct full mxid match is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@someone:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "Direct full mxid match later on is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@another:example.com", "@someone:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "No mxid match is not allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@another:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid localpart only wildcard match is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@*:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid localpart with wildcard match is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@bot.abc:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@bot.*:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid localpart with wildcard match is not allowed when it does not match",
+			checkedValue:   "@bot.abc:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@employee.*:example.com"},
+			expectedResult: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid localpart wildcard for another domain is not allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@*:another.com"},
+			expectedResult: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid domainpart with only wildcard match is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@someone:*"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid domainpart with wildcard match is allowed",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.organization.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@someone:*.organization.com"},
+			expectedResult: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "mxid domainpart with wildcard match is not allowed when it does not match",
+			checkedValue:   "@someone:example.another.com",
+			allowedUsers:   []string{"@someone:*.organization.com"},
+			expectedResult: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, testData := range tests {
+		func(testData testDataDefinition) {
+			t.Run(testData.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+				allowedUserRegexes, err := WildcardMXIDsToRegexes(testData.allowedUsers)
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Error(err)
+				}
+
+				actualResult := Match(testData.checkedValue, *allowedUserRegexes)
+
+				if actualResult == testData.expectedResult {
+					return
+				}
+
+				t.Errorf(
+					"Expected `%s` compared against `%v` to yield `%v`, not `%v`",
+					testData.checkedValue,
+					testData.allowedUsers,
+					testData.expectedResult,
+					actualResult,
+				)
+			})
+		}(testData)
+	}
+}