Cert’eM: Certification System Based on Electronic Mail Service Structure

Public-Key Infrastructures are considered the basis of the protocols and tools needed to guarantee the security demanded for new Internet applications like electronic commerce, government-citizen relationships and digital distribution. This paper introduces a new infrastructure design, Cert’eM, a key management and certification system that is based on the structure of the electronic mail service and on the principle of near-certification. Cert’eM provides secure means to identify users and distribute their public-key certificates, enhances the efficiency of revocation procedures, and avoids scalability and synchronization problems. The system, developed and tested at the University of Malaga, was recently selected by RedIRIS, the National Research and Academic Network in Spain, to provide the public key service for its secure electronic mail.