...PEM format?

Answer by
Submitted on 9/18/2004
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PEM is an abbreviation for Privacy Enhanced Mail (RFC 1421 - RFC 1424), an early standard for securing electronic mail (IRTF, IETF). PEM never has been widely adopted as Internet Mail Standard. The PEM format often is used for representing a certificate, certificate request, PKCS#7 object,... in US-ASCII by base64 encoding it and putting the encoding between the typical PEM delimiters) e.g.: -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIDAjCCAmsCEEakM712H2pJ5qjDp/WFQPUwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQAwgcExCzAJ BgNVBAYTAlVTMRcwFQYDVQQKEw5WZXJpU2lnbiwgSW5jLjE8MDoGA1UECxMzQ2xh c3MgMyBQdWJsaWMgUHJpbWFyeSBDZXJ0aWZpY2F0aW9uIEF1dGhvcml0eSAtIEcy MTowOAYDVQQLEzEoYykgMTk5OCBWZXJpU2lnbiwgSW5jLiAtIEZvciBhdXRob3Jp emVkIHVzZSBvbmx5MR8wHQYDVQQLExZWZXJpU2lnbiBUcnVzdCBOZXR3b3JrMB4X DTk4MDUxODAwMDAwMFoXDTE4MDUxODIzNTk1OVowgcExCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRcw FQYDVQQKEw5WZXJpU2lnbiwgSW5jLjE8MDoGA1UECxMzQ2xhc3MgMyBQdWJsaWMg UHJpbWFyeSBDZXJ0aWZpY2F0aW9uIEF1dGhvcml0eSAtIEcyMTowOAYDVQQLEzEo YykgMTk5OCBWZXJpU2lnbiwgSW5jLiAtIEZvciBhdXRob3JpemVkIHVzZSBvbmx5 MR8wHQYDVQQLExZWZXJpU2lnbiBUcnVzdCBOZXR3b3JrMIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEB AQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDMXtERXVxp0KvTuWpMmR9ZmDCOFoUgRm1HP9SFIIThbbP4 pO0M8RcPO/mn+SXXwc+EY/J8Y8+iR/LGWzOOZEAEaMGAuWQcRXfH2G71lSk8UOg0 13gfqLptQ5GVj0VXXn7F+8qkBOvqlzdUMG+7AUcyM83cV5tkaWH4mx0ciU9cZwID AQABMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAA4GBABB79Ik/3D0LuwBM6zQoy/0HqUNphvJLAKTH 1diwgngO7ZY8ZnsHB+E+c/Z+csjFQd0pSFxj6zb0dS7FBI2qu7a3FKWAZkY9AQzS wAC1SBtLHfQpR6g8QhdYLXh7IFACJ0ubJwvt8y9UJnNI8CWpifefyaqKYbfKDD3W hHcGFOgV -----END CERTIFICATE-----

Answer by Frappyjohn
Submitted on 8/7/2005
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PEM format is a refinement of base64 encoding. It is defined in RFC1421 for use in Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM), hence its name. It is also used by openssl to represent public and private keys and signatures. Base64 encoding represents digital data using the base64 numbering system (in which each digit represents six bits of data). PEM represents the 64 digits of base64 with the ASCII characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, "+", and "/", in that order. The resulting data are broken into lines containing 64 digits each. The "equal sign" character ("=") can be used for padding the last line or to flag the end of the data. The lines of data are preceded and followed by an "encapsulation boundary" line. For PEM mail these boundary lines are "-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----" and "-----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----". In other contexts these boundary lines vary, but they always begin and end with hyphens, and the text enclosed by the hyphens begins with either "BEGIN" or "END".

Answer by Dharmesh Bajpai
Submitted on 6/29/2006
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PEM is a set of standards for adding a security overlay to Internet e-mail providing message confidentiality and integrity. This set of standards describes a security protocol that can be used above the common Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) or the UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Protocol (UUCP). The PEM security enhancements provide three security services: message integrity, message origin authentication, and message confidentiality. The PEM enhancements can be used as a foundation to provide non-repudiation for electronic commerce applications. Currently the PEM standard defines the use of the RSA public key algorithm to be used for key management and digital signature operations, and the DES algorithm is included for message confidentiality encryption. The PEM protocols rely on the trusted distribution of the public keys. PEM public keys are distributed within an X.509 certificate. These certificates are digitally signed by a certification authority. The PEM user trusts a certification authority to provide public key certificates. The certification authorities can also cross certify public key certificates from another certification authority. The certification authorities are distributed in a hierarchical structure with the Internet Policy Registration Authority (IPRA) at the top. The IPRA will certify the certification authorities. The IPRA is a non-government, private agency and may or may not be trusted by an organization.

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Question by Albrecht
Submitted on 3/4/2004
Related FAQ: What's New in the MH FAQ
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What is PEM format?

Answer by Dave Tong
Submitted on 5/4/2005
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PEM stands for Privacy Enhanced Mail. It is a file format used to hold digital certificates. A .pem format file looks like this: ----BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- block of base64 encoded data ----END CERTIFICATE---- The format supports multiple digital certificates - eg, a certificate chain can be included. The order is significant. The server digital certificate should be the first certificate in the file. The issuer of that digital certificate should be next and so on until you get to the self-signed root certificate authority certificate.

Answer by spamsucks72
Submitted on 10/6/2005
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PEM format is simply base64 encoded data surrounded by header/footer lines.

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