This policy setting determines whether Outlook is required to use NSA Suite B algorithms for S/MIME operations. Outlook implements Suite B, a set of cryptographic algorithms for symmetric encryption, hashing, digital signatures, and key exchange announced in 2005 by the National Security Agency (NSA), a division of the United States Department of Defense. The Suite B protocols can be used to meet U.S. government standards for handling both classified and unclassified information.
If you enable this policy setting, Outlook uses only Suite B algorithms for S/MIME operations. The Suite B algorithms are as follows:
- Symmetric encryption. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with key sizes of 128 and 256 bits.
- Message digest. Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256 and SHA-384).
- Key agreement. Elliptic-Curve Menezes-Qu-Vanstone (ECMQV); Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH).
- Digital Signatures. Elliptic-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA).
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Outlook can use any available algorithm for S/MIME operations, such as encryption, signing, and so on.
Note - For more information about Suite B, see "Fact Sheet NSA Suite B Cryptography" http://www.nsa.gov/ia/industry/crypto_suite_b.cfm.
Registry Hive | HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
Registry Path | software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\security |
Value Name | suitebmode |
Value Type | REG_DWORD |
Enabled Value | 1 |
Disabled Value | 0 |