1. FAQ
  2. Email Trust
  3. What is S/MIME or Encrypted Email?
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EMAIL TRUST

What is S/MIME or
encrypted email?

What is encrypted email?

Encrypted email is the only way to ensure your email messages are kept secure. Email encryption is made possible through the use of Client Certificates, also known as S/MIME Certificates.

What is S/MIME?

Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, or S/MIME, is an internet standard to digitally sign and encrypt email messages. It ensures the integrity of email messages remains intact while being received.

By using digital signatures, S/MIME provides for authentication, message integrity, and non-repudiation of origin. In addition, S/MIME includes encryption that strengthens privacy and data security for electronic messaging.

How do you protect and encrypt an email message?

Emails messages can be secured and encrypted with S/MIME, or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions and PKI, or digital certificates. S/MIME combined with digital certificates can provide data encryption, message integrity and non-repudiation of message origin. The DigiCert® PKI Platform for S/MIME includes S/MIME key escrow service, certificate lifecycle management and the trusted DigiCert Certificate Authority (CA).

What are ways to prevent email phishing?

Email users can prevent email phishing by enforcing a DMARC policy that effectively screens out emails that are fraudulent or a phishing attempt. DMARC goes a step beyond SPF and DKIM policies to ensure sent emails are authentic.

In addition, Verified Mark Certificates with DMARC enforcement help to ensure an organization isn’t being impersonated and that a brand is represented by its authentic logo in an inbox.

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