S/MIME & Client Certificates
S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standard for public key encryption and signing of email contents and attachments that allows for users to digitally sign and/or encrypt email messages and attachments. It may also be used for digitally signing and encrypting documents as well as authenticating against services. S/MIME and client certificates are used for cryptographically binding identities to users.
Due to changes in the identity verification requirements for publicly-trusted S/MIME certificates implemented by the CA/Browser Forum, we’re no longer issuing S/MIME certificates unless there’s a documented business need for S/MIME signing or encryption. Due to these changes, S/MIME certificate issuance has been removed from cert.tamu.edu and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
If you find that you have a business need for an S/MIME certificate, please reach out to certificates@tamu.edu outlining your use case so that we may advise on whether to proceed with issuing an S/MIME certificate or propose alternative solutions. Due to the stricter verification requirements, we will only be able to provide support for installation of the certificates on University managed endpoints.