Editing Privacy-Enhanced Mail

{{short description|Family of file formats associated with RFC 1421}}
{{Security protocol}}
'''Privacy-Enhanced Mail''' ('''PEM''') is a [[de facto]] file format for storing and sending cryptographic [[Key (cryptography)|keys]], [[Public key certificate|certificates]], and other data, based on a set of 1993 [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]] standards defining "privacy-enhanced mail." While the original standards were never broadly adopted and were supplanted by [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]] and [[S/MIME]], the textual encoding they defined became very popular. The PEM format was eventually formalized by the IETF in [[rfc:7468|RFC 7468]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Mike |date=1995-10-01 |title=Cryptology in Cyberspace |journal=Cryptologia |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=392–396 |doi=10.1080/0161-119591884042 |issn=0161-1194 |s2cid=41770450}}</ref>

==Format==
Many cryptography standards use [[Abstract Syntax Notation One|ASN.1]] to define their data structures, and [[X.690#DER encoding|Distinguished Encoding Rules]] (DER) to serialize those structures.<ref>{{Cite IETF|rfc=7468|section=1|title=Textual Encodings of PKIX, PKCS, and CMS Structures|last=Sean|first=Leonard|last2=Simon|first2=Josefsson|date=April 2015||language=en|access-date=2017-03-06}}</ref> Because DER produces [[Binary file|binary]] output, it can be challenging to transmit the resulting files through systems, like electronic mail, that only support ASCII.

The PEM format solves this problem by encoding the binary data using [[Base64encoded|base64]]. PEM also defines a one-line header, consisting of {{code|-----BEGIN }}, a label, and {{code|-----}}, and a one-line footer, consisting of {{code|-----END }}, a label, and {{code|-----}}. The label determines the type of message encoded. Common labels include {{code|CERTIFICATE}}, {{code|CERTIFICATE REQUEST}}, {{code|PRIVATE KEY}} and {{code|X509 CRL}}.

<syntaxhighlight lang="pem">
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----

-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
</syntaxhighlight>

PEM data is commonly stored in files with a ".pem" suffix, a ".cer" or ".crt" suffix (for certificates), or a ".key" suffix (for public or private keys).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gtopia.org/blog/2010/02/der-vs-crt-vs-cer-vs-pem-certificates/|title=DER vs. CRT vs. CER vs. PEM Certificates and How To Convert Them|website=www.gtopia.org|date=4 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804070022/http://www.gtopia.org/blog/2010/02/der-vs-crt-vs-cer-vs-pem-certificates/|access-date=2020-02-04|archive-date=2019-08-04}}</ref> The label inside a PEM file represents the type of the data more accurately than the file suffix, since many different types of data can be saved in a ".pem" file.  In particular PEM refers to the header and [[base64]] wrapper for a binary format contained within, but does not specify any type or format for the binary data, so that a PEM file may contain "almost anything base64 encoded and wrapped with BEGIN and END lines".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5355046/where-is-the-pem-file-format-specified|title=Where is the PEM file format specified?}}</ref>

===Examples===
* An operating system might provide a PEM file containing a list of trusted [[CA certificate]]s, each of which in its own BEGIN/END sections;
* A web server might be configured with a "chain" file containing an end-entity certificate plus a list of intermediate certificates, each of which in its own BEGIN/END sections.

== Privacy-enhanced mail ==
The PEM format was first developed in the privacy-enhanced mail series of [[Request for Comments|RFCs]]: RFC 1421, RFC 1422, RFC 1423, and RFC 1424. These standards assumed prior deployment of a hierarchical [[public key infrastructure]] (PKI) with a single root. Such a PKI was never deployed, due to operational cost and legal liability concerns.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} These standards were eventually obsoleted by [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]] and [[S/MIME]], competing e-mail encryption standards.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

== History ==
The initiative to develop Privacy Enhanced Mail began in 1985 on behalf of the PSRG (Privacy and Security Research Group)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kent |first=S. |date=1993 |title=Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=36 |issue=8 |pages=48–60 |doi=10.1145/163381.163390 |doi-access=free |s2cid=15759913}}</ref> also known as the Internet Research Task Force. This task force is a subsidiary of the [[Internet Architecture Board]] (IAB) and their efforts have resulted in the Requests for Comment (RFCs) which are suggested Internet guidelines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kent |first=Stephen T. |date=1993-08-01 |title=Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=36 |issue=8 |pages=48–60 |doi=10.1145/163381.163390 |issn=0001-0782|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Cryptographic protocols]]
[[Category:Computer file formats]]