System and Method for Cipher E-Mail Protection

• US 20100077205A1
• Filed: 09/18/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: John Sutherland, Joseph J. Ekstrom, Tyrone Pike
• Original Assignee: John Sutherland, Joseph J. Ekstrom, Tyrone Pike
• Inventors: Sutherland, John, Pike, Tyrone, Ekstrom, Joseph J.
• Application Number:
  US12/563,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20100077205A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

The preferred embodiments of the present invention disclose a security transformation system which includes an e-mail client, a cipher proxy, a dictionary database and an Internet e-mail system. The system is capable of generating and receiving messages and performing a cipher substitution and encryption of key fields of messages when they are stored at a user'"'"'s Internet e-mail system. When the messages are received or accessed the system permits deciphering and decrypting the message using a reverse security transformation The preferred embodiments of the method of the present invention comprises steps of generating and receiving messages at an Internet e-mail system, performing a security transformation on said messages, encrypting said messages, updating a cipher dictionary at a cipher proxy, and decoding and decrypting the messages when accessed by a user.

Claims

1. A cipher e-mail protection system, comprising:

an e-mail store at a first location;

an Internet e-mail system;

a cipher-proxy device for transmitting messages from said e-mail store to said Internet e-mail system;

a dictionary database for ciphering and reverse ciphering attributes of messages between said e-mail store and said Internet e-mail system; and

an encryption and decryption mechanism for encrypting and decrypting attributes of said messages.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein a variety of redundant entries are provided in the term index for at least frequently-used terms to defeat potential word-frequency attacks.

2. A method for securing messages, comprising the steps of:

generating a message;

performing a security transformation in said message in one or more fields;

transmitting said transformed message to an Internet e-mail system; and

storing said transformed message at the Internet e-mail system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the security transformation for a given field is a term substitution cipher,

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the security transformation for a given field is asymmetric encryption.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the security transformation for a given field is symmetric encryption.

6. A method of generating and accessing transformed messages, comprising the steps of:

generating a message;

performing a security transformation in said message in one or more fields;

transmitting the transformed message to an Internet e-mail system;

storing said transformed message at the Internet e-mail system; and

accessing said message and performing a reverse security transformation on said message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the security transformation for a given field is a term substitution cipher.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the security transformation for a given field is asymmetric encryption.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the security transformation for a given field is symmetric encryption.

10. The method of claim 7, comprising:

creating a cipher index;

searching for said message using said cipher index;

retrieving said transformed message;

decoding said transformed message using said cipher index; and

viewing said message with an e-mail client.

11. A method for performing a security transformation on a message, comprising the steps of:

generating a message;

performing a cipher substitution of attributes of said message;

encrypting attributes of said message;

transmitting said transformed and encrypted message from an e-mail store to an Internet e-mail system; and

storing said transformed and encrypted message at the Internet e-mail system.

12. A method of generating and accessing ciphered messages, comprising the steps of:

generating a message at first location;

performing a cipher substitution of terms in a message;

creating a cipher index;

encrypting said index;

transmitting the ciphered and encrypted message to the Internet e-mail system;

storing said ciphered message at the Internet e-mail system;

searching said message using said cipher index;

retrieving said ciphered and encrypted message;

decoding said ciphered message using said cipher index;

decrypting said index;

decrypting attributes of said message; and

viewing said message with an e-mail client;

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the message is identified by searching said message using said cipher index.

14. A method of generating and accessing ciphered messages, comprising the steps of:

replacing required terms in an email message with corresponding terms from a dictionary for the folder or mailbox;

if a new term is encountered while replacing, creating a new mapping in the dictionary, and replacing the new word with the new cipher term;

identifying all terms used by the email message;

creating a subset of the dictionary for the terms of the message;

encrypting the subset dictionary using a symmetric encryption algorithm;

attaching the encrypted subset dictionary to the email message in an extended attributes field;

using PKI technology to encrypt the symmetric key using a set of public keys for one or more users as required;

placing the encrypted symmetric key packages in an extended attributes field;

placing an encrypted term index for the message in an extended attribute field;

transmitting the coded email to the Internet e-mail system account where it is stored;

transmitting the coded email to the organizational archive where a copy is stored;

decrypting the encrypted term index; and

integrating the term index as references to this email into the corporate index

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a variety of redundant entries are provided in the dictionary for at least frequently-used terms to defeat potential word-frequency attacks.