The S/MIME WG was established in the winter of 1997 to define MIME 
encapsulation techniques of objects whose format was based on PKCS#7 
(RFC2315). These encapsulation techniques can be used to provide 
security services for an arbitrary encapsulated content.

Initially the Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) (RFC2630) was not 
algorithm independent; however, the 1st revision separated the syntax 
(RFC3369) and the algorithms (RFC3370) to allow the two to be
updated without affecting one another. Since this split, other 
documents have been written to document the use of CMS with other 
algorithms (e.g., ECDSA, AES, GOST). Also since the initial CMS, 
additional key management techniques (e.g., password-based and an 
extensible type) and encapsulation techniques (e.g., compression) have 
been added and other documents have been written to add additional 
security services. CMS is also transport independent, and documents 
have been written to define a consistent way to transport MIME objects.

The S/MIME specifications, one for the message specification and 
another for certificate handling, have been updated to migrate 
algorithms over time.

Appropriate WG topics are as follows:

- Specifications for the use of additional cryptographic algorithms 
with CMS.
- Specifications that define additional CMS content types.
- Specifications to document algorithm migration of S/MIME.
- With the approval of the area director, specifications that define 
additional CMS security services.

The WG will perform interoperability testing to progress the CMS and 
S/MIME Specifications to Draft Standard.