Trustworthy Email

Published

February 25, 2019

Author(s)

Scott W. Rose, J. S. Nightingale, Simson Garfinkel, Ramaswamy Chandramouli

Abstract

This document gives recommendations and guidelines for enhancing trust in email. The primary audience includes enterprise email administrators, information security specialists and network managers. This guideline applies to federal IT systems and will also be useful for small or medium sized organizations. Technologies recommended in support of core Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the Domain Name System (DNS) include mechanisms for authenticating a sending domain: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Domain based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC). Recommendations for email transmission security include Transport Layer Security (TLS) and associated certificate authentication protocols. Recommendations for email content security include the encryption and authentication of message content using S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) and associated certificate and key distribution protocols.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-177 Rev. 1

Report Number

800-177 Rev. 1

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Supercedes Publication

Trustworthy Email

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Email, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), Domain based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), Authentication of Named Entities (DANE), S/MIME, OpenPGP.

Citation

Rose, S. , Nightingale, J. , Garfinkel, S. and Chandramouli, R. (2019), Trustworthy Email, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-177r1 (Accessed November 20, 2024)