The University of Saskatchewan Department of Computer Science

In this paper I present a study on “S/MIME”, which has become the industry standard for secure email exchange. Based on existing literature review, the study examines S/MIME in depth with specific emphasis on its architecture, strengths, and deficiencies. The study also identifies usability issues related to S/MIME enabled email clients, which indicate scopes for further improvements in those implementations. Obstacles in the adoption of S/MIME are also identified indicating what is required for its successful adoption in the community. In presenting the study, the paper contributes in two ways: (a) for any newcomer in the field of cryptography this paper will be a useful resource to quickly learn about S/MIME in a fair level of detail, (b) the indication about limitations of S/MIME and its implementations reveals an avenue for further research in the area of email security, which may result in improvement of S/MIME itself, or its implementations in the email clients.