AS1 (Applicability Statement 1) is a
specification
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
about how to transport structured business-to-business data securely and reliably over the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. Security is achieved by using
digital certificate
In cryptography, a public key certificate, also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate, is an electronic document used to prove the validity of a Key authentication, public key. The certificate includes information about the key, i ...
s and
encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
.
AS1 technical overview
The AS1 protocol is based on SMTP and
S/MIME S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standard for public key encryption and signing of MIME data. S/MIME is on an IETF standards track and defined in a number of documents, most importantly . It was originally developed by R ...
. It was the first AS protocol developed and uses signing, encryption and
MDN conventions. In other words:
* Files are sent as "attachments" in a specially coded SMIME email message
* Messages can be signed, but do not have to be
* Messages can be encrypted, but do not have to be
* Messages may request an MDN back if all went well, but do not have to request such a message
* If the original AS1 message requested an MDN...
** Upon the receipt of the message and its successful decryption or signature validation (as necessary) a "success" MDN will be sent back to the original sender. This MDN is typically signed but not encrypted.
***Upon the receipt and successful verification of the signature on the MDN, the original sender will "know" that the recipient got their message (this provides the "Non-repudiation" element of AS1)
** If there are any problems receiving or interpreting the original AS1 message, a "failed" MDN may be sent back.
Like any other AS file transfer, AS1 file transfers typically require both sides of the exchange to trade X.509 certificates and specific "trading partner" names before any transfers can take place.
See also
*
AS2
AS2 (Applicability Statement 2) is a specification on how to transport structured business-to-business data securely and reliably over the Internet. Security is achieved by using digital certificates and encryption.
Background
AS2 was created ...
*
AS3
*
AS4
AS4 (Applicability Statement 4) is an open standard for the secure and payload-agnostic exchange of Business-to-business documents using Web services. Secure document exchange is governed by aspects of WS-Security, including XML Encryption and X ...
External links
* {{IETF RFC, 3335 - AS1 specification
AS1 Providers - Drummond Certified
Computer networks
Cryptographic protocols
Internet Standards