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RFC 9787: Guidance on End-to-End Email Security

In plain English — editorial summary, not part of the RFC

End-to-end cryptographic protections for email messages can provide useful security. However, the standards for providing cryptographic protection are extremely flexible. That flexibility can trap users and cause surprising failures. This document offers guidance for Mail User Agent (MUA) implementers to help mitigate those risks and to make end-to-end email simple and secure for the end user. It provides a useful set of vocabulary as well as recommendations to avoid common failures. It also identifies a number of currently unsolved usability and interoperability problems.

Document record

Document ID
RFC9787
Published
August 2025
Authors
D. K. Gillmor; A. Melnikov; B. Hoeneisen
Status
INFORMATIONAL
Stream
IETF
Area
sec
Pages
53
Also known as
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The document record above — title, authors, date, status, stream, area, relationships, DOI and errata — is imported verbatim from the public RFC Editor index. The “in plain English” section is editorial: written by The metasystema editorial team, not part of the RFC. Where the two differ, the RFC text governs.

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