Is there any standard for encrypted email in the works?

Question

Today, if you want email security, you have to use a number of different encryption schemes and implementations, none of which is standard.

Is there any kind of email standard coming down the pike that would standardize and secure email?

Here's how I imagine it would work. I go to my Yahoo Mail account and login. It opens a SSL connection and let's me type my email in and send it. When it's sent, it actually sends the destination email address to Yahoo first, who then sends a query to the other email host, let's say Hotmail. Hotmail sees that query for [e-mail] and sends that public key back through Yahoo to my browser. That gets encrypted in my browser with that public key and then the encrypted email is actually sent.

When receiving, my private key when is my password for my email account, and then my browser will decrypt any email coming to me.

All this would be invisible to the users, all handled by the hosts.

Answer 1

You pretty much summd it up there from A to Z.

As far as any new email standards with an emphasis on security ( or in that realm) , I can honestly say I haven't heard of anything new at this time.

That's a excellent question though.

Answer 2

not that I know of