Secure electronic mail system
DCFirst Claim
1. A secure email system comprising:
- a server system that implements a secure e-mail service; and
a sender computing device;
wherein the secure email system is configured to;
intercept an e-mail message on the sender computing device when the e-mail message is composed and sent by a sender on the sender computing device;
send the intercepted e-mail message in unencrypted form over a secure channel to the server system;
receive the e-mail message in unencrypted form at the server system, the e-mail message being from the sender, the sender having an account with the secure e-mail service, and being addressed to a recipient that does not have an account with the secure e-mail service;
store the e-mail message in encrypted form on the server system;
generate, or cause a generation of, an introductory message after receiving of the e-mail message at the server system;
transmit, or cause a transmission of, the introductory message to the recipient in unencrypted form via an SMTP protocol, said introductory message lacking at least some message content of the e-mail message, and including a link to a web client interface that provides functionality to authenticate the recipient and to securely retrieve the e-mail message from the server system and further including a message access key including a message identifier identifying the e-mail message and a service host identifier indicating to the recipient a network accessible address of the server system at which the e-mail message is stored, wherein the message access key does not serve as an encryption or decryption key;
upon access of the introductory message by the recipient, programmatically receive recipient data including the message access key and a recipient e-mail address from the recipient;
register the recipient with the secure e-mail service by validating the message access key and the recipient e-mail address; and
transmit the e-mail message in unencrypted form to the recipient via a secure communications protocol, based on the recipient data.
3 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An e-mail system is disclosed that overcomes many deficiencies of, but is backward compatible with, existing e-mail systems. Embodiments of the system may include various features, including but not limited to: (1) secure transfer of e-mail messages, without the need for users to replace existing e-mail clients or to change e-mail addresses; (2) tracking of all actions performed in connection with an e-mail transmission; (3) the ability for a recipient to view information about an e-mail message, optionally including information about how other addressees have responded to it, before deciding whether to retrieve the e-mail message; (4) the aggregation of entire e-mail conversations into a single threaded view; (5) the ability to include both private and public messages in a single e-mail communication; (6) sender control over downstream actions performed in connection with an e-mail message; (7) flexible control over cryptographic methods used to encrypt emails messages for storage.
150 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A secure email system comprising:
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a server system that implements a secure e-mail service; and a sender computing device; wherein the secure email system is configured to; intercept an e-mail message on the sender computing device when the e-mail message is composed and sent by a sender on the sender computing device; send the intercepted e-mail message in unencrypted form over a secure channel to the server system; receive the e-mail message in unencrypted form at the server system, the e-mail message being from the sender, the sender having an account with the secure e-mail service, and being addressed to a recipient that does not have an account with the secure e-mail service; store the e-mail message in encrypted form on the server system; generate, or cause a generation of, an introductory message after receiving of the e-mail message at the server system; transmit, or cause a transmission of, the introductory message to the recipient in unencrypted form via an SMTP protocol, said introductory message lacking at least some message content of the e-mail message, and including a link to a web client interface that provides functionality to authenticate the recipient and to securely retrieve the e-mail message from the server system and further including a message access key including a message identifier identifying the e-mail message and a service host identifier indicating to the recipient a network accessible address of the server system at which the e-mail message is stored, wherein the message access key does not serve as an encryption or decryption key; upon access of the introductory message by the recipient, programmatically receive recipient data including the message access key and a recipient e-mail address from the recipient; register the recipient with the secure e-mail service by validating the message access key and the recipient e-mail address; and transmit the e-mail message in unencrypted form to the recipient via a secure communications protocol, based on the recipient data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A secure email system comprising:
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a server system which provides a secure e-mail service; a sender computing device running an e-mail client; and a recipient computing device associated with a recipient e-mail address of a recipient; wherein the secure email system is configured to; intercept an e-mail message composed and sent by a sender via the e-mail client running on the sender computing device with an e-mail client plug-in running on the sender computing device, such that an ordinary transmission of the e-mail message to the recipient e-mail address is blocked; send the e-mail message in unencrypted form via a secure communications protocol from the sender computing device to the server system for storage thereon in encrypted form; send an introductory message in unencrypted form via an SMTP protocol to the recipient computing device, said introductory message including a key for retrieving the e-mail message from the server system in unencrypted form via the secure communications protocol, the key including a message identifier identifying the e-mail message and a service host identifier indicating to the recipient a network accessible address of the server system at which the e-mail message is stored, wherein the key does not serve as an encryption or decryption key, the key being further usable with the recipient e-mail address to programmatically register the recipient with the secure e-mail service upon access of the introductory message by the recipient, wherein the introductory message lacks at least some message content of the e-mail message. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification