ISO/IEC 29150:2011 specifies four mechanisms for signcryption that employ public key cryptographic techniques requiring both the originator and the recipient of protected data to have their own public and private key pairs. The methods specified in ISO/IEC 29150:2011 have been designed to maximize the level of security and provide efficient processing of data. All the mechanisms defined have mathematical "proofs of security", i.e. rigorous arguments supporting their security claims.

ISO/IEC 29150:2011 is not applicable to infrastructures for management of public keys which are defined in ISO/IEC 11770-1 and ISO/IEC 9594.