Title: RE: [ebxml-msg] Sign and Encrypt Hi All, Well now, the 'King' sealed his envelopes with a wax stamp using the ring he wore on his hand. This stamp served the purpose of protecting the content of the envelope from being altered while 'in transit'. Sounds very much like encrypt (seal) and sign (imprint ring stamp) to me. I don't know that the king also signed with his own hand the content of the envelope (the application data), but certainly he may have chosen to do so. Having provided some precedence for 'encrypt then sign', I feel led to concur there is a valid purpose to that sequence. Certainly, it is not the same purpose as is provided by the 'sign then encrypt' signature. Both the authority of the signer, and the timing and manner of the signature carry significance from a security perspective. Cheers, Bob Miller