Secure messaging systems
First Claim
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1. A method for securely conveying a message over a communications network from a sender to a recipient, wherein the recipient has a message address and has a public key and a private key for use in encryption and decryption, comprising:
- with the computing equipment at the sender, encrypting the message for the recipient using the public key of the recipient;
sending the encrypted message from the computing equipment at the sender to the message address of the recipient over the communications network;
adding forwarding notification information to the encrypted message in the form of instructions for the recipient that direct the recipient to forward the encrypted message for decryption, wherein the encrypted message with the added forwarding notification information is provided to the recipient;
at a server, receiving from the computing equipment at the sender the encrypted message addressed to the recipient;
providing the recipient with an interactive message access prompt formed from a universal resource locator to which the recipient can respond by clicking on the universal resource locator to begin obtaining access to a decrypted version of the message;
using the server to obtain credentials from the recipient when the recipient responds to the interactive message access prompt by clicking on the universal resource locator;
with a decryption engine on the server, using the recipient'"'"'s credentials to obtain a copy of the recipient'"'"'s private key;
with the decryption engine on the server, decrypting the encrypted message using the copy of the recipient'"'"'s private key to produce the decrypted version of the message; and
with the server, providing the recipient with access to the decrypted version of the message, wherein the recipient'"'"'s public key is an IBE public key and the recipient'"'"'s private key is an IBE private key, wherein the sender encrypts the message using the recipient'"'"'s IBE public key, wherein decrypting the encrypted message comprises decrypting the encrypted message at the server using the IBE private key of the recipient to produce the decrypted version of the message.
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Abstract
A system is provided that uses cryptographic techniques to support secure messaging between senders and recipients. A sender may encrypt a message for a recipient using the recipient'"'"'s public key. The sender may send the encrypted message to the message address of a given recipient. A server may be used to decrypt the encrypted message for the recipient, so that the recipient need not install a decryption engine on the recipient'"'"'s equipment.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for securely conveying a message over a communications network from a sender to a recipient, wherein the recipient has a message address and has a public key and a private key for use in encryption and decryption, comprising:
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with the computing equipment at the sender, encrypting the message for the recipient using the public key of the recipient; sending the encrypted message from the computing equipment at the sender to the message address of the recipient over the communications network; adding forwarding notification information to the encrypted message in the form of instructions for the recipient that direct the recipient to forward the encrypted message for decryption, wherein the encrypted message with the added forwarding notification information is provided to the recipient; at a server, receiving from the computing equipment at the sender the encrypted message addressed to the recipient; providing the recipient with an interactive message access prompt formed from a universal resource locator to which the recipient can respond by clicking on the universal resource locator to begin obtaining access to a decrypted version of the message; using the server to obtain credentials from the recipient when the recipient responds to the interactive message access prompt by clicking on the universal resource locator; with a decryption engine on the server, using the recipient'"'"'s credentials to obtain a copy of the recipient'"'"'s private key; with the decryption engine on the server, decrypting the encrypted message using the copy of the recipient'"'"'s private key to produce the decrypted version of the message; and with the server, providing the recipient with access to the decrypted version of the message, wherein the recipient'"'"'s public key is an IBE public key and the recipient'"'"'s private key is an IBE private key, wherein the sender encrypts the message using the recipient'"'"'s IBE public key, wherein decrypting the encrypted message comprises decrypting the encrypted message at the server using the IBE private key of the recipient to produce the decrypted version of the message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification