Lesson plan
Cryptographic Message Syntax
The Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) is the IETF's standard for cryptographically protected messages. It can be used by cryptographic schemes and protocols to digitally sign, digest, authenticate or encrypt any form of digital data. CMS is based on the syntax of PKCS #7, which in turn is based on the Privacy-Enhanced Mail standard. The newest version of CMS ( ) is specified in (but also see for updated ASN.1 modules conforming to ASN.1 2002 and and for updates to the standard). The architecture of CMS is built around certificate-based key management, such as the profile defined by the PKIX working group. CMS is used as the key cryptographic component of many other cryptographic standards, such as S/MIME, PKCS #12 and the digital timestamping protocol. OpenSSL is open source software that can encrypt, decrypt, sign and verify, compress and uncompress CMS documents, using the openssl-cms command.
Article summary
The Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) is the IETF's standard for cryptographically protected messages. It can be used by cryptographic schemes and protocols to digitally sign, digest, authenticate or encrypt any form of digital data. CMS is based on the syntax of PKCS #7, which in turn is based on the Privacy-Enhanced Mail standard. The newest version of CMS ( ) is specified in (but also see for updated ASN.1 modules conforming to ASN.1 2002 and and for updates to the standard). The architecture of CMS is built around certificate-based key management, such as the profile defined by the PKIX working group. CMS is used as the key cryptographic component of many other cryptographic standards, such as S/MIME, PKCS #12 and the digital timestamping protocol. OpenSSL is open source software that can encrypt, decrypt, sign and verify, compress and uncompress CMS documents, using the openssl-cms command.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.