A proxy approach to e-mail security

✍ Scribed by Ian Brown; C. R. Snow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 106 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-0644
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-024x(199910)29:12<1049::aid-spe271>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

New Internet applications and new releases of existing Internet applications appear with bewildering rapidity. Adding functionality to such applications can therefore be a time-consuming process. By contrast, Internet protocols are significantly less volatile. In some circumstances, the additional functionality can be provided by 'tapping into' the protocol exchanges rather than modifying the applications themselves. We claim that this represents a more manageable approach to the problem of adding additional facilities to applications. We demonstrate this approach using the example of e-mail security. Whenever possible, a proxy sitting between a mail client and server signs and encrypts outgoing mail. Incoming secured mail is automatically decrypted and verified. This means that any software that works with standard mail protocols gains security without requiring separate upgrading. The proxy attempts to keep the amount of user interaction required to a minimum providing security functionality for users without the need to learn a complex new user interface.