S/MIME

E37201

IETF standard cryptographic protocol email security standard

S/MIME is a widely used standard for secure email that provides encryption and digital signatures using public key cryptography.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (16)

Label	Occurrences
S/MIME canonical	17
Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions	3
S/MIME Version 3.2	2
CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax)	1
IETF Cryptographic Message Syntax	1
S/MIME Version 3.1	1
S/MIME Version 4.0	1
S/MIME Working Group	1
S/MIME media types	1
S/MIME message format	1
S/MIME security services	1
S/MIME v3	1
S/MIME v3.1	1
S/MIME v4.0	1
Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Message Specification	1
Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 4.0 Message Specification	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T287236 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: S/MIME
Context triple: [RSA, usedInProtocol, S/MIME]

A. PGP
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication, most notably for securing emails and files.
B. X.509 certificates
X.509 certificates are digital documents that bind a public key to an entity’s identity using a trusted certificate authority, forming the basis of public key infrastructure for secure communications.
C. TLS
TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a cryptographic protocol that secures data transmitted over networks by providing encryption, authentication, and integrity between communicating applications.
D. SSL
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure, encrypted communication over a computer network, commonly used to protect data transmitted between clients and servers.
E. SMTP
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a standard communication protocol used for sending and routing email messages across IP networks.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: S/MIME
Target entity description: S/MIME is a widely used standard for secure email that provides encryption and digital signatures using public key cryptography.

A. PGP
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication, most notably for securing emails and files.
B. X.509 certificates
X.509 certificates are digital documents that bind a public key to an entity’s identity using a trusted certificate authority, forming the basis of public key infrastructure for secure communications.
C. TLS
TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a cryptographic protocol that secures data transmitted over networks by providing encryption, authentication, and integrity between communicating applications.
D. SSL
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure, encrypted communication over a computer network, commonly used to protect data transmitted between clients and servers.
E. SMTP
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a standard communication protocol used for sending and routing email messages across IP networks.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	IETF standard ⓘ cryptographic protocol ⓘ email security standard ⓘ
basedOn	MIME ⓘ
compatibleWith	IMAP ⓘ POP3 ⓘ SMTP ⓘ
competesWith	PGP ⓘ surface form: OpenPGP
definedIn	RFC 5751 ⓘ RFC 8551 ⓘ
extends	MIME ⓘ
fullName	S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
goal	authenticity of sender ⓘ confidentiality of email ⓘ integrity of email ⓘ interoperable secure email ⓘ
operatesAt	application layer ⓘ
protects	email attachments ⓘ email message body ⓘ
provides	digital signatures ⓘ email encryption ⓘ message authentication ⓘ message integrity ⓘ non-repudiation ⓘ
requires	X.509 certificates ⓘ surface form: Public Key Infrastructure trusted Certificate Authorities ⓘ
standardizedBy	Internet Engineering Task Force ⓘ surface form: IETF
supportedBy	Mail ⓘ surface form: Apple Mail Outlook ⓘ surface form: Microsoft Outlook Thunderbird email client ⓘ surface form: Mozilla Thunderbird many mobile email clients ⓘ
supports	certificate chains ⓘ certificate revocation lists ⓘ certificate-based authentication ⓘ end-to-end email encryption ⓘ key management via certificates ⓘ signing of email messages ⓘ
usedIn	commercial email clients ⓘ corporate email systems ⓘ government email systems ⓘ
uses	S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) PKCS #7 ⓘ X.509 certificates ⓘ asymmetric encryption for key exchange ⓘ hash functions for signatures ⓘ public key cryptography ⓘ symmetric encryption for message content ⓘ
version	S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: S/MIME v3 S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: S/MIME v3.1 S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: S/MIME v4.0

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (35)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

RSA → usedInProtocol → S/MIME ⓘ

X.509 certificates → usedInProtocol → S/MIME ⓘ

subject surface form: X.509 certificate

PKCS #1 → usedIn → S/MIME ⓘ

RFC 8017 → relatedTo → S/MIME ⓘ

S/MIME → fullName → S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

S/MIME → uses → S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax)

S/MIME → version → S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME v3

S/MIME → version → S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME v3.1

S/MIME → version → S/MIME self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME v4.0

ASN.1 → usedIn → S/MIME ⓘ

GNU Privacy Guard → supportsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

Werner Koch → supportsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

RC2 → usedIn → S/MIME ⓘ

RFC 8551 → title → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 4.0 Message Specification

RFC 8551 → protocolSpecified → S/MIME ⓘ

RFC 8551 → specifiesVersion → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME Version 4.0

RFC 8551 → defines → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME message format

RFC 8551 → defines → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME security services

RFC 8551 → defines → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME media types

RFC 8551 → relatedTo → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME Version 3.2

OpenSSL → implementsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

PKCS #7 → basisFor → S/MIME ⓘ

PKCS #7 → influenced → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: IETF Cryptographic Message Syntax

RFC 5751 → title → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Message Specification

RFC 5751 → abbreviation → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME Version 3.2

RFC 5751 → protocolSpecified → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

RFC 5751 → protocolAbbreviation → S/MIME ⓘ

RFC 5751 → updates → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME Version 3.1

RFC 5751 → workingGroup → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: S/MIME Working Group

RFC 5751 → topic → S/MIME ⓘ

this entity surface form: Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

gpgsm → implements → S/MIME ⓘ

gpgsm → supportsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

Gpg4win → supportsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

Gpg4win → implementsProtocol → S/MIME ⓘ

Mozilla Messaging → supportsStandard → S/MIME ⓘ

All labels observed (16)

How this entity was disambiguated Show

Statements (50)

How these facts were elicited Show

Referenced by (35)

How this entity was disambiguated

How these facts were elicited