ALSO CALLED: e-Mail Security, E Mail Security, and Secure Email DEFINITION: S/MIME (Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a secure method of sending e-mail that uses the Rivest-Shamir-Adlemanencryption system. S/MIME is included in the latest versions of the Web browsers from Microsoft and Netscape and has also been endorsed
Definition continues below.
EMAIL SECURITY DEFINITION (continued): by other vendors that make messaging products. RSA has proposed S/MIME as a standard to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). An alternative to S/MIME is PGP/MIME, which has also been proposed as a standard.
MIME itself, described in the IETF standard called Request for Comments 1521, spells out how an electronic message will be organized. S/MIME describes how encryption information and a digital certificate can be included as part of Email Security definition sponsored by SearchCIO-Midmarket.com, powered by WhatIs.com an online computer dictionary
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