How does S/MIME relate to HIPAA?
While the HIPAA security standards are not yet published, some medical centers believe that the use of S/MIME to sign and encrypt email messages may be one part of their overall strategy. • What are some of the major issues with the use of encrypted email? One of the major issues with the use of encrypted email is the long term danger associated with the loss of the private key that is able to decrypt the archived messages. For example, when a user stores a copy of all messages sent into a sentmail folder, S/MIME email clients place the encrypted version of the message into the folder. A user who needs to view the contents of these messages at a later date will not be able to do so unless the appropriate private key is still available. Adequate backups of all certificates and their matching private keys must be made and maintained throughout the period of time when the user may wish to examime old encrypted messages. • “S/MIME Cookbook.” (under development) • Getting started – for test
