<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:8.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:106%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{mso-style-priority:34;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:8.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:106%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:106%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:106%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast
{mso-style-priority:34;
mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:8.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;
mso-add-space:auto;
line-height:106%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:2048484697;
mso-list-type:hybrid;
mso-list-template-ids:1007194742 -1266369380 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-start-at:0;
mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:-;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:"Courier New";}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0A7;
mso-level-tab-stop:none;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">May 5, 2022<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The S/MIME Certificate Working Group (SMCWG) of the CA/Browser Forum commences a 30-day pre-ballot discussion of the draft text of the “Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted S/MIME Certificates” (S/MIME
BR).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The S/MIME BR describes an integrated set of technologies, protocols, identity-proofing, lifecycle management, and auditing requirements for certificate Issuers. The draft is the culmination of work started in 2020 by a group of Certificate
Issuers, Certificate Consumers (including both email user agents and email service providers), as well as other interested parties such as audit schemes and industry groups.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As agreed by the SMCWG, recognizing that the S/MIME BR will be a new standard, the pre-ballot discussion period allows organizations to complete their internal reviews of the draft before the final ballot is assembled.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Comments may be submitted by SMCWG members to the SMCWG public listserv (<a href="https://lists.cabforum.org/mailman/listinfo/smcwg-public">https://lists.cabforum.org/mailman/listinfo/smcwg-public</a>) or using the Issues functionality
on GitHub (<a href="https://github.com/cabforum/smime/issues">https://github.com/cabforum/smime/issues</a>).
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The SMCWG will take advantage of the summer face-to-face meeting of the CABF to discuss and categorize any remaining issues that arise for resolution in this draft or a future version of the standard.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At that time, a roadmap will be set to solicit endorsers and to conduct an adoption ballot for version 1 of the S/MIME BR later in the summer, subject to the voting rules of the SMCWG charter and the CABF bylaws which call for a 7-day review
and a 7-day ballot period. A successful ballot will lead to a 60-day IPR review.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The draft of the S/MIME BR may be found at <a href="https://github.com/cabforum/smime/blob/preSBR/SBR.md">
https://github.com/cabforum/smime/blob/preSBR/SBR.md</a> and as a PDF, attached.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Summary<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The S/MIME BR describe four profiles for S/MIME certificates including:<o:p></o:p></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
Mailbox-validated (include only an email address);<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
Organization-validated (where the Subject is a Legal Entity);<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
Sponsor-validated (where the Subject is a Natural Person associated with a Legal Entity, and recognizing the common use of Enterprise-specific registration authorities for this type of certificate); and<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
Individual-validated (where the Subject is a Natural Person).<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each profile has Legacy, Multipurpose, and Strict generations with varying technical specifications for certificate content including Subject DN fields, extended key usages, and extensions.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acknowledging that few standards exist today for the issuance of S/MIME certificates, and therefore there is great variety in existing practice, the draft standard has been designed to provide flexibility for CAs in bringing Publicly-Trusted
S/MIME under a consistent regime, while moving to more defined standards over time.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In line with the SMCWG Charter, the S/MIME BR draft has maintained consistency where relevant with other CABF standards.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Given the greater handling of personal information for S/MIME certificates, the S/MIME BR includes requirements for data protection.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The SMCWG intends to move forward with additional standards work in future versions of the S/MIME BR, for example defining additional methods for verifying email control, the use of Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA), and addressing
topics such as key generation and recovery in greater detail.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With kind regards,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stephen Davidson<br>
Chair, S/MIME Certificate Working Group<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>