Is the 3DES encryption algorithm the best choice for the S/MIME protocol?

Q: How is 3DES symmetric encryption implemented in the S/MIME protocol?

A:In fact, the 3DES encryption algorithm is part of the original S/MIME protocol. 3DES, also known as Triple DES, or Triple Data Encryption Standard, was developed by the IBM team in 1974 Based on the DES algorithm. Triple DES was initially used for specialized hardware, so it is more expensive than a general processor.

Due to the limitation of the length of the key in 3DES, it is difficult to execute it on a general computer. S/MIME finally adopts AES as its encryption standard. AES, also known as Rijndael and FIPS-197, is a symmetric grouping encryption algorithm that can accept variable modules, and the key length of up to 256-bit 3DES is limited to 64-bit ). In addition, it can run better on your server than 3DES. Because of this, it is difficult to recommend that you use 3DES even if it can be executed technically ).

However, if you have legacy system requirements, I suggest you do some research on the Internet to find out the old copies of the S/MIME protocol standard, it can guide you to integrate 3DES encryption keys into S/MIME.

1. RSA Algorithm for encryption algorithms
2. DES algorithm for encryption algorithms