Patent ID: 6442600
Filing Date: 2002-08-27
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for securely sending an electronic message to multiple recipients, the method comprising:(a) receiving an indication of an encrypted electronic message to be sent to multiple recipient users; (b) automatically storing a single copy of the electronic message; (c) creating a notification electronic message including a reference to the electronic message; (d) sending a copy of the notification electronic message to each of the recipient users; and upon receiving a request from a recipient user for the referenced electronic message, (e) decrypting the received encrypted electronic message; (f) retrieving an encryption key for the recipient user; (g) encrypting a copy of the decrypted electronic message with the retrieved encryption key; and (h) sending the encrypted copy to the recipient user for temporary storage while the sent encrypted copy is reviewed; and (i) making a determination selected from the group consisting of: whether the encrypted copy of the electronic message has been sent to all of the recipient users and whether none of the recipient users have indicated that the electronic message is to be saved, and automatically deleting the stored single copy of the electronic message if the determination is true.