Guidelines on Electronic Mail Security

Published

September 11, 2002

Author(s)

Miles C. Tracy, Wayne Jansen, Scot Bisker

Abstract

[Superseded by SP 800-45 Ver. 2 (February 2007): http://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=50953] Electronic mail (email) is perhaps the most popularly used system for exchanging information over the Internet. After Web servers, mail servers are often the most targeted and attacked hosts on an organization's network. Various types of mail content and attachments have also proven to be effective in introducing malicious code into a system through the email client. Thus, it is essential to secure mail servers and clients as well as the network infrastructure that supports them. This document has been developed to assist federal departments and agencies, state agencies, and commercial organizations in installing, configuring, and maintaining secure mail servers and mail clients . It presents generic security principles and covers details specific to the various components of a mail system. It also includes examples that address two of the more popular mail server applications running respectively on Unix and Microsoft Windows operating systems: sendmail and Exchange.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-45

Report Number

800-45

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Superceded By Publication

Guidelines on Electronic Mail Security

Keywords

email, mail client, mail server, security

Citation

Tracy, M. , Jansen, W. and Bisker, S. (2002), Guidelines on Electronic Mail Security, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed April 20, 2024)