System for secure electronic information transmission

• US 20020172367A1
• Filed: 05/16/2002
• Published: 11/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kasten Chase Applied Research Limited
• Original Assignee: Kasten Chase Applied Research Limited
• Inventors: Nadarajah, Kathirkamanathan, Mulder, David G., Brown, David, Bain, Trevor, Miskimmin, Robert
• Application Number:
  US10/147,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20020172367A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/277
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/083 involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0838 Key agreement, i.e. key establishment technique in which a shared key is derived by parties as a function of information contributed by, or associated with, each of these network architectures or network communication protocols for key exchange in a packet data network H04L63/061
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A method for secure electronic information exchange between a sender and a recipient. The method includes generating a message at a first entity, generating a message encryption key, encrypting the message using the message encryption key, wrapping the message encryption key using a key agreement algorithm, generating a Java archive file including the encrypted message, the wrapped message encryption key and cryptographic algorithm code including decryption algorithm and key agreement algorithm code, encoding the Java archive file, embedding the encoded Java archive file in an HTML file, and sending the HTML file as an e-mail attachment to said recipient.

Claims

1. A method for secure electronic information exchange between a sender and a recipient, comprising:

generating a message at a first entity;

generating a message encryption key;

encrypting said message using said message encryption key;

wrapping said message encryption key using a key agreement algorithm;

generating a Java archive file including the encrypted message, the wrapped message encryption key and cryptographic algorithm code including decryption algorithm and key agreement algorithm code;

encoding the Java archive file;

embedding the encoded Java archive file in an HTML file; and

sending the HTML file as an e-mail attachment to said recipient.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said Java archive file includes a viewer applet.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein said Java archive file is digitally signed prior to encoding.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising registering the recipient including:

receiving and storing recipient information;

generating a public and private encryption key pair for said recipient; and

making available said private encryption key securely to said recipient.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein said step of making available said private encryption key comprises sending said private encryption key to said recipient via a key distribution utility.

6. The method according to claim 4 wherein said step of registering further includes generating a public key digital certificate from said public key and storing said public key digital certificate.

7. The method according to claim 4 wherein said registering said recipient further includes sending a browser plug-in to said recipient for transparently decoding said encoded Java archive file.

8. An apparatus for secure electronic information exchange between a sender and a recipient, comprising a secure delivery service in communication with a message generating utility for receiving a message therefrom, said secure delivery service including a message encryption key generator, an encryption module for encrypting said message using said message encryption key and for wrapping said message encryption key using a key agreement algorithm, a Java archive file generator for generating a Java archive file including the encrypted message, the wrapped message encryption key and cryptographic algorithm code including decryption algorithm and key agreement algorithm code and an encoder for encoding the Java archive file wherein the secure delivery service is operable to embed the encoded Java archive file in an HTML file and send the HTML file as an e-mail attachment to said recipient.

9. The apparatus for secure electronic information exchange according to claim 8 wherein said Java archive file further includes a viewer applet.

10. The apparatus for secure electronic information exchange according to claim 8 wherein said secure delivery service further includes said e-mail service.

11. The apparatus for secure electronic information exchange according to claim 8 wherein said secure delivery service further includes a digital signature generator for digitally signing said Java archive file prior to encoding by the encoder.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8 further comprising a registration system for registering said recipient for the delivery of secure electronic information, said registration system comprising a registration authority for providing a recipient interface for collection of recipient information, and a key generation utility connected to said registration authority, said key generation utility for generating public and private encryption keys, wherein said private encryption key is made available for said recipient.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said registration system is operable to provide a browser plug-in to the recipient.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said registration system further comprises a certificate authority in connection with the key generation utility, for receiving the public encryption key, generating a public key certificate and binding recipient identification to the public key.

15. The apparatus according to claim 8wherein said private encryption key is made available to said recipient via a private key distribution utility.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said registration system further comprises storage for storing said recipient information, said public key certificate and said private key.