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My assumption is that S/MIME almost always utilizes certificates as follows:

  • My certificate can be used to allow people to encrypt messages and send them to me.

  • My certificate (the same certificate) is used by me to sign messages and send them.

Is there an RFC reference that specifies this is a requirement for S/MIME? I'm scanning through RFC5751 and not seeing anything jump out at me...

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Not to the point of the question, but related: For decrypting and signing, you'll obviously need the private key, not only the certificate (which contains the public key and some informations about you, together with a signature by someone else). – Paŭlo Ebermann♦ Jun 6 '12 at 12:56
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Thanks, Paulo. I did some further research on this last night and seemed to find the answer in the RFC on SMIME: rfc5751. I discovered that you CAN use different certificates for signing and encryption. From section 2.5.3 of that RFC: The encryption key preference attribute allows the signer to unambiguously describe which of the signer's certificates has the signer's preferred encryption key. This attribute is designed to enhance behavior for interoperating with those clients that use separate keys for encryption and signing. – Bear McDougal Jun 6 '12 at 13:12
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Feel free to post this as an answer, if you think it answers your question. – Paŭlo Ebermann♦ Jun 6 '12 at 19:28

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