
Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) uses Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) to secure and authenticate each individual message. Since each message is secured seperatly each message can have different level or type of security depending on the need. CMS also accomidates multiple layers of security being applied on top of each other.
RFC 3851 - Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.1 Message Specification
RFC 3852 - Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) Version 3