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MIME:
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Multi-purpose Internet
Mail Extension (MIME)
ByNeetu BhartiTrainee,NCSI,IISC,Bangalore-122001-2002
Date ofPresentation:07/Mar/2002
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MIME:
Contents
l Definition of MIME
l Introduction
l What exactly is MIME?
l How it Works?
l MIME-Specific Technical Definitions
l Example of MIME
l Summary
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MIME:
Definition of MIME
MIME, stand forMulti-purpose Internet mailExtensions, is a
freely available specification that
offers a way to interchange text in languages withdifferent
character sets, and multimedia e-mailamong many different computer
system that use
Internet mail standards.
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MIME:
What exactly is MIME?
l In 1992, a new standard was defined by anInternet engineering
task force working group inRFC1521 & 1522 called MIME.
l MIME is an extension to the Internet mailstandard, known as
Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP) that allows mail messages
containing different type of multimediainformation to be sent
across the network thisincludes, but is not limited to,
word-processordocuments, spreadsheets, programs, graphics,
audio, and motion picture files, as well as links
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MIME:
Cont
l MIME is a specification for enhancing thecapabilities of
standard Internet e-mail.
l It offers a simple standardized way to representand encode a
wide variety of media types of
transmission via Internet mail.l It is defines extensions to
SMTP to support
binary attachments of arbitrary format.
l
The designers of MIME have learned a lot fromthe old SMTP
protocol and its mailers.
l MIME is here to stay and it works.
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MIME:
ContWhen using the MIME standard, messages cancontain the
following types:
l Text message in US-ASCII
l Character set other than US-ASCII
l Multiple objects in a single messages
l Multimedia; Image, Audio, and Video messages
l Multi-front messages
l Messages of unlimited lengthl Binary files
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MIME:
Cont
MIME is defined to be completely backwardscompatible, yet
flexible and open toextensions. Therefore, it builds on the
olderstandard by defining additional fields for themail message
header, that describes newcontent types, and a distinct
organization ofthe message body.
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MIME:
How MIME works?
l The developers of MIME found a clever way towork around the
limitation. It packages differentdata types into a 7-bit ASCII
format. that way, all
e-mail, regardless of the data it contains, appearsas standard
e-mail messages to the internetsSMTP servers. The beauty of the
solution lies inthe fact that SMTP didnt have to change tohandle
such data.
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MIME:
Cont
l Uses a new binary encoding scheme calledBASE 64
l New SMTP headers describe the attached
documentl User agents read the header to figure out how
to interpret the message
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MIME:
MIME Specific technical definition
l New MIME headersl The Content-type headers
l The Application-type headers
l The Content-transfer-Encodingl The Content-ID &Content
Description
l Multipart Message
l Non-ASCII text in mail messages
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MIME:
MIME Object SecurityServices ( MOSS)
MIME Object Security Services (MOSS) is a protocol that uses
the
multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted framework to
applydigital signature and encryption services to MIME objects.
The services are offered through the use of end-to-end
cryptographybetween an originator and a recipient at the
application layer.
MOSS was never widely deployed and is now abandoned, largely due
to thepopularity ofPGP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIMEhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_layerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_layerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIMEhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signature
