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Re: [ietf-dkim] x= lets senders expire responsibility

2006-04-14 12:16:39

On Apr 14, 2006, at 10:31 AM, Hector Santos wrote:

One simple solution would be to change the recommendations and ensure a reasonable period for accessing keys to enable protections over IMAP and POP transit. A recommendation might be changed to weeks rather than days.
...

A faster polling rate for an MUA is a not a solution. : (


Doug, the current recommendation is 7 days. That means that at a minimum the polling rate for your MUA needs to be 6.9 days or less if you don't want to experience problems. Right?

Many people will not be able to access their email at this rate.


Even if the recommended key retention time is increased to 2 weeks, your MUA minimum polling rate is now 1.9 weeks or less, and so on.

This is better, but it would be still too little time to assure messages within the IMAP/POP transport.


So while the higher retention time is better for the MUA to not miss revoked keys, you will always have the same timing issue with the offline MUA.

Right?

Timing email is problematic. The Date header provides roughly the same information as the t= parameter. The Date header could be encompassed by the signature to offer an approximate date of when the message was prepared and signed. The same variation in timing might occur when signing, as with delays in the recipient's initial access via IMAP/POP. DKIM does not indicate whether the email was signed prior to being submitted by the MUA, or whether the message was signed by the MSA. A very large disparity in the message date could be an indication a stale message. A stale message might happen by accident, or due to equipment failures, and would seem to require either acceptance or rejection which might lead to the message being bounced.

What happens to the message when the key is revoked?

A retired key flag, rather than blanking the public key, can extend protections within the IMAP/POP transport while also permitting a change in the acceptance criteria at the MDA, which seems to be the goal.


-Doug






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