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S/MIME support for iPhone ?

Why there is not S/MIME support for iPhone?
It's very important feature for business user.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6), MacBook Pro

Posted on Dec 20, 2008 7:26 AM

10 replies

Feb 10, 2009 6:56 AM in response to iphone123

{quote:title=iphone123 wrote:}what good is retrieving email wirelessly if it can't be secured in transit?{quote}
Just to clarify, sending/receiving email over SSL (which is supported) will secure it in transit. But once downloaded, yes, without s/mime encryption your email is not secure if you lose your iphone. So s/mime support is an important feature that I too would love to see added.

Feb 26, 2009 1:44 PM in response to kroyster

I would also like to see this added. My company is currently weighing the choice of which smartphone to get for all of the employees, and lack of S/MIME support on the iPhone is a huge strike against it in the consideration. We might have to go with a Windows Mobile device for this reason alone. Which would be unfortunate.

Sep 14, 2009 9:37 PM in response to kroyster

kroyster wrote:
Just to clarify, sending/receiving email over SSL (which is supported) will secure it in transit ...


No, it will not. Using SSL to connect to your SMTP server to transmit e-mail will provide the following security: (a) your username and password for your SMTP server, sent from your iPhone to your SMTP server, will be encrypted; and (b) your e-mail will be encrypted between your iPhone and your SMTP server. However, once the e-mail you are sending is past your SMTP server and on the way to its intended recipient, it is in the clear.

A similar story applies for using SSL to connect to your IMAP (or POP) server to retrieve your e-mail. SSL will protect: (a) your username and password for your IMAP server; and (b) the e-mail you are receiving, from your IMAP server to your iPhone.

End-to-end encrypted e-mail is something entirely different. That is, if you want e-mail encrypted all the way from your iPhone to the recipient's computer/iPhone/etc.; or, if you want e-mail encrypted all the way from the sender's computer/iPhone/etc. to your iPhone, you need a different solution. PGP or S/MIME encryption of e-mail would be necessary.

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S/MIME support for iPhone ?

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