S/MIME

(Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail

Extension)
INTRODUCTION:

As we all know, an email’s journey across the internet

includes stops at numerous servers and routers. Sometimes, at any
of these stops, malicious actors may come across the email message
and read its contents or insert a bogus answer, impersonating the
two parties who are communicating. For instance, this could lead to
the theft of login credentials or the redirection of traffic to a
phishing website.

This tactic is known as a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack, and it

can be difficult to detect, but it can be prevented by using
S/MIME’s encryption and digital signatures.

What Is S/MIME?
S/MIME or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
is a technology widely used by corporations that enhances email
security by providing encryption, which protects the content of
email messages from unwanted access. It also adds digital
signatures, which confirm that you are the authentic sender of the
message, making it a powerful weapon against many email-based
attacks.

In a nutshell, S/MIME is a commonly-used protocol for

sending encrypted and digitally-signed email messages and is
implemented using S/MIME certificates.

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S/MIME Uses
S/MIME can be used to:

● Check that the email you sent has not been tampered with by a third party.
● Create digital signatures to use when signing emails.
● Encrypt all emails.
● Check the email client you’re using.

How Does S/MIME Work?

To operate, S/MIME employs mathematically related public
and private keys. This technology is based on asymmetric
cryptography. Because the two keys are mathematically related, a
message that was encrypted with the public key (which is, of course,
published) can only be decrypted using the private key (which is kept
secret).

When someone clicks “send” on an email, S/MIME sending

agent software encrypts the message with the recipient’s public key,
and the receiving agent decrypts it with the recipient’s private key.
Needless to say, both the sender and the recipient must support
S/MIME.

The email message decryption process can only be done with

the private key associated with it, which is supposed to be in sole

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possession of the recipient. Unless the private key is compromised,
users can be confident that only the intended recipient will have
access to the confidential information contained in their emails.

Simply put, S/MIME encryption muddles emails so that they

can only be viewed by receivers who have a private key to decrypt
them. It prevents others, particularly malicious actors, from
intercepting and reading email messages as they are sent from senders
to recipients.

You may be aware that SMTP-based Internet email does not

provide message security. An SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
internet email message can be read by anyone who sees it as it travels
or views it where it is stored. S/MIME uses encryption to tackle these
issues.

Message encryption provides two distinct security benefits:

Confidentiality
The purpose of message encryption is to keep the contents of
an email message safe. The contents are only visible to the intended
recipient, and they remain private and inaccessible to anyone else who
might obtain or view the message. Encryption ensures message
confidentiality while in transit and storage.

Data integrity
Message encryption, like digital signatures, offers data
integrity services as a result of the operations that make encryption
possible.

As I mentioned before, S/MIME also adds a digital signature

to an email. This guarantees that the sender has permission to send
emails from a specific domain.

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S/MIME Digital Signatures
Digital signatures are the most commonly used service of S/MIME.
As the name indicates, they are the digital equivalent of the
conventional, legal signature on a paper document. S/MIME digital
signatures protect against email spoofing attempts by confirming the
sender’s identity, making sure that the message content has not been
tampered with, and verifying that the sender actually sent the email
message.

Security capabilities offered by digital signatures:

Authentication
A signature validates the answer to the question “who are
you?” by allowing that entity to be distinguished from all others and
proving its uniqueness. Authentication ensures that a message was
sent by the individual or organization claiming to have sent it. This
reduces the likelihood of email spoofing, which is common in
phishing scams.

Nonrepudiation
A signature’s uniqueness prevents the sender from denying
that they sent the message. This is useful for purchases and
transactions, legal documentation, and criminal investigations, among
other things.

Data integrity
When the receiver of a digitally signed email validates the
digital signature, the recipient is assured that the received email
message is the same one that was signed and sent and that has not
been tampered with while it traveled.

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What Is a S/MIME Certificate and How Does It
Work?
An email signing certificate, which you can obtain from a certificate
authority, is required to sign and encrypt your email. This certificate
can be used to digitally sign your emails. Once you purchase it, it will
automatically get added to your email.

All senders and receivers must have a digital certificate that binds
their identity to a public key. Typically, an administrator is in charge
of configuring S/MIME and issuing digital certificates.

Why Need a S/MIME Certificate?

● S/MIME certificates ensure that the emails you send are only
accessible by the intended recipient.
● They employ asymmetric encryption.
● Public and private keys will be used to encrypt and decrypt
emails, ensuring that the emails you send cannot be read by
anyone other than the receiving party.
● S/MIME certificates protect emails by preventing hackers
from accessing or changing their contents.
● Offer both digital signatures and encryption.
● While asymmetric encryption keeps your data private, digital
signatures provide authentication and message integrity.
● S/MIME certificates are installed on email clients.

How to Send a S/MIME Encrypted Mail

Gmail
When a user composes a message in Gmail, a lock icon shows up next
to each receiver who has S/MIME configured. If the user intends to
send the email to more than one recipient, and each of those recipients

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supports a distinct level of encryption, Gmail will use the lowest level
of encryption supported by all recipients.

Outlook
When writing a single message in Outlook, users can choose “Encrypt
with S/MIME” from the Options menu. To digitally sign or encrypt
every email by default, users can select encryption, sign, or both from
the Settings menu.

Conclusion
S/MIME Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension protects
sensitive and confidential information from accidental and purposeful
data leaks, and it informs the receiver if a malicious actor has
tampered with the digital signature in any way. The digital signature
also verifies the identity of the sender and protects the recipient from
spoofing attempts.

The advantages listed above are important not only for businesses to
protect their customers’ email accounts and sensitive data but also for
individuals. As you know, malicious software, such as viruses,
trojans, and other threats, is usually distributed via email.