초록 ▼

A secure e-mail system (10) permitting a sender (12) to send a secure e-mail (14) to one or more receivers (16). The sender (12) employs a sending unit (18) having a software module (26) to compose the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to a security server (24), to receive back from that sec

A secure e-mail system (10) permitting a sender (12) to send a secure e-mail (14) to one or more receivers (16). The sender (12) employs a sending unit (18) having a software module (26) to compose the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to a security server (24), to receive back from that security server (24) a messageKey (102e) for encrypting the secure e-mail (14), and for sending it conventionally to an e-mail server (22). The receivers (16) employ receiving units (20) also having software modules (26) to receive the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to the security server (24), and to receive back from the security server (24) the messageKey (102e) for decrypting the secure e-mail (14). The security server (24) stores a user id (102a) and password (102b) for the sender (12) and the receivers (16); a messageId (104a), a sealSalt (104j), and the messageKey (104g) for the secure e-mail (14); and a receiver address (106b) in a database (100). Using the database (100) the security server (24) authenticates the sender (12) and the receiver (16) and validates the secure e-mail (14).

대표청구항 ▼

A secure e-mail system (10) permitting a sender (12) to send a secure e-mail (14) to one or more receivers (16). The sender (12) employs a sending unit (18) having a software module (26) to compose the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to a security server (24), to receive back from that sec

A secure e-mail system (10) permitting a sender (12) to send a secure e-mail (14) to one or more receivers (16). The sender (12) employs a sending unit (18) having a software module (26) to compose the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to a security server (24), to receive back from that security server (24) a messageKey (102e) for encrypting the secure e-mail (14), and for sending it conventionally to an e-mail server (22). The receivers (16) employ receiving units (20) also having software modules (26) to receive the secure e-mail (14), to send data about it to the security server (24), and to receive back from the security server (24) the messageKey (102e) for decrypting the secure e-mail (14). The security server (24) stores a user id (102a) and password (102b) for the sender (12) and the receivers (16); a messageId (104a), a sealSalt (104j), and the messageKey (104g) for the secure e-mail (14); and a receiver address (106b) in a database (100). Using the database (100) the security server (24) authenticates the sender (12) and the receiver (16) and validates the secure e-mail (14). validated successfully in step (e) or when the counter has not reached the selected value, performing step (e). 11. The method of claim 10, wherein, when the first firmware has not been previously validated successfully in step (e) and when the counter has reached the selected value, setting a validation flag to a state indicative of invalidity of the first firmware. 12. The method of claim 9, wherein in determining step (h) the determination of whether first firmware is present is based upon reading a code. 13. A method for booting a computational component, comprising: (a) providing second firmware in a computational component; (b) reading boot code in the computational component; (c) thereafter determining whether first firmware is present in the computational component; (d) when first firmware is present, validating at least some of the first firmware; and (e) when the first firmware is not present, executing the second firmware. 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising when the first firmware is present the steps of: (f) executing the first firmware when the first firmware is successfully validated; and (g) executing the second firmware when the first firmware is not successfully validated. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: (h) copying first firmware to a selected location in memory of the computational component; (i) validating at least some of the copied first firmware. 16. A computer readable medium comprising instructions to perform the steps of claim 13. 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the validation step (d) is performed using at least one of a redundancy check and a check sum. 18. The method of claim 13, wherein the first firmware is stored in read-only-memory. 19. The method of claim 15, wherein step (i) comprises: when the at least a portion of the copied first firmware is validated successfully, setting a validation flag to a first state and a counter to a starting value and performing step (d); and when the at least a portion of the first firmware is not validated successfully, not performing step (d). 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, before the copying step, (j) setting the validation flag to a second state, the second state being different from the first state. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein step (f) comprises setting the validation flag to a third state different from the first and second states. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein step (g) comprises setting the validation state to a fourth state different from the first, second, and third states. 23. The method of claim 13, further comprising after step (c) and before step (d): (f) determining whether the first firmware has been previously validated successfully in step (d); (g) when the first firmware has not been previously validated successfully in step (d), incrementing a counter and determining whether the counter has reached a selected value; and (h) when the first firmware has been previously validated successfully in step (d) or when the counter has not reached the selected value, performing step (d). 24. The method of claim 23, wherein, when the first firmware has not been previously validated successfully in step (d) and when the counter has reached the selected value, setting a validation flag to a state indicative of invalidity of the first firmware. 25. The method of claim 13, wherein in determining step (c) the determination of whether first firmware is present is based upon reading a code. 26. A system for updating firmware, comprising: (a) second firmware in a computational component; (b) a processor operable to: (i) copy first firmware to a selected location in memory of the computational component; (ii) validate at least some of the copied first firmware; (iii) thereafter execute boot code in the computational component; (iv) validate the least some of the first firmware; (v) execute the first firmware when the at least some of the first firmware