E-MAIL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, AND E-MAIL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT METHOD

• US 20090100079A1
• Filed: 09/10/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Yoshioka, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,202 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• 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

An E-mail information management apparatus acquires a plurality of predetermined information from a mail header and a mail body and signature related information as signature target information, produces feature variable information and electronic signature data, and stores the signature target information, the variable information and the electronic signature data, as signature header information in a header portion of the E-mail.

Claims

1. A computer-readable recording medium storing an E-mail information management program for causing a computer, which manages E-mail information, to execute:

acquiring a plurality of predetermined information from a mail header and a mail body, and acquiring, as signature related information, information relating to said plurality of predetermined information and including network information, thereby acquiring, as signature target information, said acquired information with attributes thereof made corresponding to respective attribute tags;

producing feature variable information for said signature target information acquired, and acquiring said feature variable information in a corresponding relation to attribute tags indicating said feature variable information;

applying an electronic signature to an entirety of both said signature target information acquired and said feature variable information produced, thereby producing electronic signature data, and acquiring said electronic signature data in a corresponding relation to an attribute tag indicating said electronic signature data; and

storing, as signature header information, said signature target information acquired, said feature variable information produced, and said electronic signature data produced in a header portion of E-mail in a corresponding relation to said associated attribute tags.

2. The recording medium storing said E-mail information management program according to claim 1, wherein when said E-mail is received from another network, storing said signature header information in addition to header information that has already been stored in said header portion of said E-mail in said another network.

3. The recording medium storing said E-mail information management program according to claim 1, wherein said signature related information includes original contents of said E-mail information together with an attribute tag indicating said original contents.

4. The recording medium storing said E-mail information management program according to claim 1, wherein said signature related information acquired includes an algorithm, which has been used in applying said electronic signature, together with an attribute tag indicating said algorithm.

5. The recording medium storing said E-mail information management program according to claim 1, wherein said signature related information acquired includes information of a time at which signature information has been produced, together with an attribute tag indicating said time information.

6. The recording medium storing said E-mail information management program according to claim 1, wherein said signature target information acquired is capable of being selectively designated.

7. An E-mail information management apparatus for managing E-mail information, the apparatus comprising:

an information acquiring unit for acquiring a plurality of predetermined information from a mail header and a mail body, and acquiring, as signature related information, information relating to said plurality of predetermined information and including network information, thereby acquiring, as signature target information, said acquired information with attributes thereof made corresponding to respective attribute tags;

a feature variable information producing unit for producing feature variable information for said signature target information acquired by said information acquiring unit, and acquiring said feature variable information in a corresponding relation to attribute tags indicating said feature variable information;

an electronic signature data producing unit for applying an electronic signature to an entirety of both said signature target information acquired by said information acquiring unit and said feature variable information produced by said feature variable information producing unit, thereby producing electronic signature data, and acquiring said electronic signature data in a corresponding relation to an attribute tag indicating said electronic signature data; and

a header information storing unit for storing, as signature header information, said signature target information acquired by said information acquiring unit, said feature variable information produced by said feature variable information producing unit, and said electronic signature data produced by said electronic signature data producing unit in a header portion of E-mail in a corresponding relation to said associated attribute tags.

8. The E-mail information management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein when said E-mail is received from another network, said header information storing unit stores said signature header information additionally in said header portion of said E-mail.

9. The E-mail information management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said signature related information acquired by said information acquiring unit includes original contents of said E-mail information together with an attribute tag indicating said original contents.

10. The E-mail information management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said signature related information acquired by said information acquiring unit includes an algorithm, which has been used in applying said electronic signature, together with an attribute tag indicating said algorithm.

11. The E-mail information management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said signature related information acquired by said information acquiring unit includes information of a time at which signature information has been produced, together with an attribute tag indicating said time information.

12. The E-mail information management apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the signature target information acquired by the information acquiring unit is capable of being selectively designated.

13. An E-mail information management method executed by a computer which manages E-mail information, the method comprising:

acquiring a plurality of predetermined information from a mail header and a mail body, and acquiring, as signature related information, information relating to said plurality of predetermined information and including network information, thereby acquiring, as signature target information, said acquired information with attributes thereof made corresponding to respective attribute tags;

producing feature variable information for said signature target information acquired, and acquiring said feature variable information in a corresponding relation to attribute tags indicating said feature variable information;

applying an electronic signature to an entirety of both said signature target information acquired and said feature variable information produced, thereby producing electronic signature data, and acquiring said electronic signature data in a corresponding relation to an attribute tag indicating said electronic signature data; and

storing, as signature header information, said signature target information acquired, said feature variable information produced, and said electronic signature data produced in a header portion of E-mail in a corresponding relation to said associated attribute tags.

14. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein when said E-mail is received from another network, storing said signature header information in addition to header information that has already been stored in said header portion of said E-mail in said another network.

15. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein said signature related information includes original contents of said E-mail information together with an attribute tag indicating said original contents.

16. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein said signature related information acquired includes an algorithm, which has been used in applying said electronic signature, together with an attribute tag indicating said algorithm.

17. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein said signature related information acquired includes information of a time at which signature information has been produced, together with an attribute tag indicating said time information.

18. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein said signature target information acquired is capable of being selectively designated.

19. The E-mail information management method according to claim 13, wherein said method further comprises:

when said E-mail is sent to another network and received by said another network, verifying said received E-mail based on said signature header information in said another network.

20. The E-mail information management method according to claim 19, wherein said method comprises:

when said verifying determines that said E-mail is valid, execution set forth in claim 19 is executed in said another network.