SECURE ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of securely communicating e-mail messages, the method comprising:
- receiving an e-mail message at a server system that implements a secure e-mail service, the e-mail message being from a sender that has 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;
storing the e-mail message in encrypted form on the server system; and
transmitting, or causing the transmission of, a substitute message to the recipient, said substitute message lacking at least some message content of the e-mail message, and including a link to a component that provides functionality for the recipient to securely retrieve the e-mail message from the server system.
5 Assignments
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.
379 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of securely communicating e-mail messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an e-mail message at a server system that implements a secure e-mail service, the e-mail message being from a sender that has 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;
storing the e-mail message in encrypted form on the server system; and
transmitting, or causing the transmission of, a substitute message to the recipient, said substitute message lacking at least some message content of the e-mail message, and including a link to a component that provides functionality for the recipient to securely retrieve the e-mail message from the server system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer-implemented method of providing for secure delivery of an e-mail message sent via an e-mail client running on a sender computing device to a recipient e-mail address, the method comprising:
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intercepting the e-mail message 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;
sending the e-mail message to a server system for storage thereon, and storing the e-mail message on the server system in an encrypted form; and
sending a substitute message to the recipient e-mail address with information about the e-mail message, said substitute message including a key for retrieving the e-mail message from the server system, wherein the substitute message lacks at least some message content of the e-mail message. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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- 30. An e-mail client plug-in stored on a computer readable medium, said e-mail client plug-in adapted to run in conjunction with an e-mail client program on a user computer computing device, and being capable of intercepting an e-mail message sent from the e-mail client program such that an ordinary transmission of the e-mail message is blocked, and being capable of causing the intercepted e-mail message to be sent over a network to a secure e-mail service for subsequent retrieval by a recipient to whom the e-mail message is addressed.
Specification