Mail certificate responder

• US 20090025076A1
• Filed: 07/16/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Rowley, Peter Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,332,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating a mail certificate is described. A client determines whether the client possesses a certificate. If a certificate is needed, the client sends a request to a certificate responder for a new certificate in response to the determination. The certificate responder generates and sends the new certificate back to the client.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining whether a certificate is associated with a client;

sending a request to a certificate responder for a new certificate in response to the determination; and

receiving the new certificate from the certificate responder in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively sent and received via email.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein a public key of the client is sent with the request.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the received new certificate is encrypted with the public key of the client.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the received new certificate is associated only with an email of the client.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for a new certificate from a client;

generating the new certificate based only on an email of the client; and

sending the new certificate to the client.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively received and sent via email.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the request comprises a public key of the client.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

encrypting the new certificate with the public key of the client.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the request is received in response to a determination at the client that the client is not associated with a certificate.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a client to determine whether a certificate is associated with the client, to send a request to a certificate responder for a new certificate in response to the determination, and to receive the new certificate from the certificate responder in response to the request.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively sent and received via email.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein a public key of the client is sent with the request.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the received new certificate is encrypted with the public key of the client.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the received new certificate is associated only with an email of the client.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a certificate responder to receive a request for a new certificate from a client, to generate the new certificate based only on an email of the client, and to send the new certificate to the client.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively received and sent via email.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the request comprises a public key of the client.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the certificate responder is to further encrypt the new certificate with the public key of the client.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the request is received in response to a determination at the client that the client is not associated with a certificate.

21. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising;

determining whether a certificate is associated with a client;

sending a request to a certificate responder for a new certificate in response to the determination; and

receiving the new certificate from the certificate responder in response to the request.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively sent and received via email.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein a public key of the client is sent with the request.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23 wherein the received new certificate is encrypted with the public key of the client.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein the received new certificate is associated only with an email of the client.

26. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising;

receiving a request for a new certificate from a client;

generating the new certificate based only on an email of the client; and

sending the new certificate to the client.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 26 wherein the request and the new certificate are respectively received and sent via email.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 26 wherein the request comprises a public key of the client.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein the method further comprises:

encrypting the new certificate with the public key of the client.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 26 wherein the request is received in response to a determination at the client that the client is not associated with a certificate.

31. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request at a certificate responder from a first client to generate a new certificate for a second client; and

sending the new certificate to the second client.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

notifying the second client that the new certificate is to be generated;

receiving a public key from the second client; and

encrypting the new certificate with the public key of the second client.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the new certificate is associated only with an email of the second client.

34. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

receiving a cancellation request from the second client.

35. The method of claim 31 further comprising:

providing a pending status to the first client until the new certificate is sent to the second client.

36. An apparatus comprising:

a certificate responder to receive a request from a first client to generate a new certificate for a second client, and to send the new certificate to the second client.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the certificate responder is to further notify the second client that the new certificate is to be generated, to receive a public key from the second client, and to encrypt the new certificate with the public key of the second client.

38. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the new certificate is associated only with an email of the second client.

39. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the certificate responder is to further receive a cancellation request from the second client.

40. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the certificate responder is to further provide a pending status to the first client until the new certificate is sent to the second client.

41. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising;

receiving a request at a certificate responder from a first client to generate a new certificate for a second client; and

sending the new certificate to the second client.

42. The article of manufacture of claim 41 wherein the method further comprises:

notifying the second client that the new certificate is to be generated;

receiving a public key from the second client; and

encrypting the new certificate with the public key of the second client.

43. The article of manufacture of claim 41 wherein the new certificate is associated only with an email of the second client.

44. The article of manufacture of claim 41 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a cancellation request from the second client.

45. The article of manufacture of claim 41 wherein the method further comprises:

providing a pending status to the first client until the new certificate is sent to the second client.