Method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender and a recipient
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender and at least one recipient, wherein an encryption system on the sender'"'"'s side sends an enrolment message to said recipient, said enrolment message containing an invitation for said recipient to choose among one of the following options:
- i) access to said e-mail over a secured web mail interface, or ii) sends a reply to said encryption system from which the public key of said recipient can be extracted, or iii) initiate generation of a public key on the recipient'"'"'s side.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender (10) and a recipient (5), wherein:
- 1) said sender sends an e-mail addressed to said recipient over an e-mail encryption system (16),
- 2) said encryption system (16) verifies in a database (160) of recipients if a public key of said recipient is available,
- 3) if said public key of said recipient is available, said encryption system encrypts said e-mail with said public key, and forwards the encrypted e-mail to the recipient (5),
- 4) if, on the other hand, said public key of said recipient is not available in said database (160), said encryption system sends instead enrolment message (1220) to said recipient, said enrolment message containing an invitation for said recipient to choose among one of the following options: i) access to said email over a secured web mail interface, or ii) sends a reply to said encryption system from which said public key can be extracted, or ii) initiate generation of a public key on the recipient'"'"'s side.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender and at least one recipient, wherein an encryption system on the sender'"'"'s side sends an enrolment message to said recipient, said enrolment message containing an invitation for said recipient to choose among one of the following options:
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i) access to said e-mail over a secured web mail interface, or ii) sends a reply to said encryption system from which the public key of said recipient can be extracted, or iii) initiate generation of a public key on the recipient'"'"'s side. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34)
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33. An email encryption system for securing emails sent by a sender to a recipient, comprising:
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an email relay for relaying emails a database of recipients for storing public key of said recipients a cryptographic module for encryption outgoing emails to said recipients using their public keys a SSL secured Webmail server for delivering outgoing emails over a secured web interface an infrastructure for generating new pairs of keys for new recipients requesting it, a software module for replacing outgoing emails sent to external recipients for which no public key is available by an invitation to generate or deliver a key.
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35. A method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender and at least one recipient, wherein an encryption system on the sender'"'"'s side sends an enrolment message to said recipient, said enrolment message containing an invitation for said recipient to choose among several options, including an option to generate a public key on the recipient'"'"'s side, wherein generation of said public key implies generation of a corresponding private key made available to said recipient and of a spare private key made available to said sender, wherein the private key and the spare private key both correspond to said public key.
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36. A method for establishing a secure e-mail communication channel between a sender and at least one recipient, wherein:
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1) said sender sends an e-mail addressed to said recipient over said email encryption system, 2) an encryption system on the sender'"'"'s side first verifies if said email fulfils conditions for encryption previously defined by the administrator of said encryption system and forwards the email without encrypting it if the email does not fulfil said conditions, otherwise;
3) said encryption system verifies in a database of recipients if a public key of said recipient is available, and, if said public key of said recipient is available, said encryption system encrypts said email with said public key, and forwards the encrypted email to the recipient, otherwise;
4) said encryption system sends an enrolment message to said recipient, said enrolment message containing an invitation for said recipient to choose among one of the following options;
i) access to said e-mail over a secured web mail interface, or ii) sends a reply to said encryption system from which the public key of said recipient can be extracted, or iii) initiate generation of a public key on the recipient'"'"'s side.
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37. A method for sending encrypting messages, comprising:
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1) a list of recipients is stored in a database in an encryption system, said list comprising an email address and a cryptographic key of recipients, 2) said encryption system verifies in a database of recipients if the cryptographic key of a recipient to which an outgoing email is sent is available, 3) said encryption system replaces said outgoing email by an enrolment message when said cryptographic key is not available in said database, said enrolment message containing several options allowing said recipient to share a cryptographic key with said database or to retrieve said email over a secure webmail.
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Specification