This one of a series of a messages describing new features in Isode R14.4, scheduled to ship in April 2009. You can see all of the messages on this blog relating to R14.4 by clicking on this link
Modern use of Security Labels will involve a comprehensive structured format such as the ESS format defined in RFC 2634 "Enhanced Security Services for S/MIME". Other techniques are also used for supporting Security Labels in email, such as FLOT (First Line of Text) labels. This is an example FLOT label:
Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED
Isode R14.4 adds in support for a variety of messaging Security Label formats, and mapping between them. The following structured label formats are supported:
- ESS Labels in S/MIME.
- X.411 Labels in X.400
Support for these formats is discussed in more detail in the context of M-Switch MIXER. The following ad hoc label formats are supported:
- FLOT (First Line of Text) for Internet Email and X.400, as the first line of text in the first text body part. This is supported for all types of text body part.
- Security label included within the Subject: line of an Internet email.
- Security Label in a special X- Header of an Internet email. This can be configured for any header.
A primary goal of Isode's mapping of Security Labels in messages is to convert between structured and ad hoc forms. Ad hoc labels are often surrounded by special (delimiting) text, and M-Switch can parse and generate this. Ad hoc labels are generated from structured labels by use of capabilities from Isode's Security Policy infrastructure.
Text labels can be generated from the Security Classification or from the entire Security Label, using a choice of marking data from the Security Policy used. There is no standardized approach for the reverse mapping. Isode provides a flexible text lookup and conversion mechanism to map from the (ad hoc) text security labels to Isode XML format structured labels. This approach gives a high degree of flexibility to support different ad hoc security label formats.
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