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New Baseline Requirements

In order to standardize the issuing and administration of S/MIME certificates, the CA/B Forum has defined new requirements, taking effect at the beginning of September 2023.

As a result, the authentication (so-called "vetting") may change or, in the case of existing certificates, may have to be carried out again. In the case of
a person representing an organization, it may be necessary to make a video call in the future.
Some S/MIME products will not be carried over to the new standards by the respective CAs and will be deprecated. Consequently, the following S/MIME products are currently no
longer available at InterNetX: GlobalSign PersonalSign Class 2 and Sectigo Pro S/MIME Certificate
In the future, S/MIME certificates will be categorized into one of the following types: Mailbox-validated, Organization-validated, Sponsor-validated, Individual-validated
Additionally, a profile is assigned as well. This profile determines the maximum validity period: legacy (3 years), multipurpose or strict (2 years)
S/MIME certificates issued according to the "old" standards remain valid and can be used until the respective expiration date. A renew or a reissue might not be longer possible. Please see below for details.

Why S/MIME?

The S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) technology secures your email correspondence through encryption and signing.
The asymmetrical encryption protects S/MIME emails against unwanted access, i.e. the reading and modification of the email content by third parties.
The digital signature confirms the authorship of the email and notifies the recipient of any unauthorized changes, making it an effective means of detecting phishing emails.

S/MIME certificates are cost-effective because an unlimited number of emails and documents can be sent pre-encrypted and signed within an email address. They are easy to integrate and use.

Mode of operation

Digital certificates digitally bind a cryptographic key to a user's identity, providing proof of the origin and integrity of the transmitted message.
Once the certificate is installed, the user can easily sign or encrypt selected emails with one click, or automatically sign and encrypt all emails with the digital certificate via the corresponding configuration.
S/MIME is supported by most mail clients (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Lotus Notes and Mulberry Mail).

Overview of the available S/MIME certificates

The S/MIME certificates are issued via a digital ID for persons and departments of a company.

GlobalSign

Note for PersonalSign Class 2 Pro and PersonalSign Class 2 Department:
→ Certificates issued BEFORE August 16, 2023 can no longer be renewed. These must be reordered according to the new requirements (CREATE)
→ A reissue is generally no longer possible

Certificate Name	Digital ID for Use	Type	Profile	Digital ID proves Right of Ownership	Verification (Vetting)
PersonalSign Class 1	For general or personal use	Mailbox-validated	Legacy	Email address	By email
~~PersonalSign Class 2~~	EOL announced by supplier for August 2023.	--	--	--	In order to continue signing and encrypting emails digitally, other equally secure S/MIME certificates for your personal use are available in our portfolio.
PersonalSign Class 2 Pro	For a person who represents a company. The company must be located within the EMEA region. If you have any questions, please contact support.	Sponsor-validated	Legacy	Email address Identity assurance of the person Assurance of the existence of the organization	Execution in two steps (please in this order): 1.) Person: video call with GlobalSign Vetting Team → email invitation from vetting-emea@globalsign.com → book Video Call online → have ready original valid ID with photo, issued by government authority (copy is NOT accepted) → video call will take place in English → validity of the verification max. 825 days or max. until the validity of the ID document → alternatively notary certification Detailed description from GlobalSign 2.) Organization: → Via a call to the personnel department with a number from the phone book → Company Register is checked
PersonalSign Class 2 Department	For a department	Organization-validated	Legacy	Email address Assurance of the existence of the organization	By email Company Register is checked

DigiCert

Certificate Name	Digital ID for Use	Type	Profile	Digital ID proves Right of Ownership	Verification (Vetting)
S/MIME Class 1	For general or personal use	Mailbox-validated	Legacy	Email address	By email Note that the link in the email is only valid for a maximum of 24h. To resend the email, please contact your support.
S/MIME Premium (Class 2)	For a person who represents a company	Sponsor-validated	Legacy	Email address Identity assurance of the person Assurance of the existence of the organization	By email. Via a call to the personnel department with a number from the phone book Company Register is checked
Digital Signature Plus	For a person who represents a company	Sponsor-validated	Legacy	Email address Identity assurance of the person Assurance of the existence of the organization	By email. Via a call to the personnel department with a number from the phone book Company Register is checked

Digital Signature Plus

With the Digital Signature Plus certificate, it is possible to digitally sign documents using e. g. Microsoft Office (without Access), Adobe PDF, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, etc.
However, the following applies to Adobe PDF: It is possible to digitally sign documents, but these are not fully trusted, as the Digital Signature Plus is not listed in Adobe's Authorised Trust List (AATL).
→ For this use case, we offer the GlobalSign - Document Signing certificate.

Sectigo

Certificate Name	Digital ID for Use	Type	Profile	Digital ID proves Right of Ownership	Verification (Vetting)
Sectigo - Personal S/MIME	For general or personal use	Mailbox-validated	Multipurpose	Email address	By email Note that the link in the email is only valid for a maximum of 24h.
Sectigo - Pro S/MIME Currently not available	For a person who represents a company	--	--	Email address Identity assurance of the person Assurance of the existence of the organization	By email Via a call to the personnel department with a number from the phone book Company Register is checked
Sectigo - Enterprise S/MIME	For a person who represents an entire company	Organization-validated	Multipurpose	Email address Identity assurance of the person Assurance of the existence of the organization	By email Via a call to the personnel department with a number from the phone book Company Register is checked Copy of the personal identification card Verification image of the person with ID card in hand

More detailed information on the individual certificates can be found in our knowledge base.

S/MIME certificates - basics