When we designed
CertifiedEmail, a few years back, there was no
suitable standard for digitally signing an email message.
Goodmail thus went and used standard components, e.g.
RSA for the digital signature, and
SHA-1 for hashing a digest, but we were forced to define our own process for combining these components into an authentication layer.
Over the past few years, an email authentication standard emerged: first in the form of
DomainKeys, and later, its successor,
DKIM.
It was a relatively simple matter for us to substitute
DKIM for our original authentication layer. The authentication layer was, and still is, a rather prosaic component of
CertifiedEmail. The other security components, the “secret sauce” that made
CertifiedEmail the best and the only secure email certification system, remain in place.
DKIM-based
CertifiedEmail is as secure as the original specification of
CertifiedEmail.
By adopting
DKIM, not only do we embrace and help further propagate a worthy standard, we also provide our
customers with additional value. Beyond the large number of mailboxes operated
by providers who agreed contractually to grant privileges to CertifiedEmail messages, senders of
CertifiedEmail will now also enjoy improved
deliverability with other receivers who value the fact that
CertifiedEmail messages are signed by a
trusted third party.
You can read the press release (replete with quotes from luminaries and a car safety metaphor)
here.