Patent ID: 7721093
Filing Date: 2010-05-18
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for authenticating a sender of a digital object on a peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, comprising: recognizing P2P communication between a first client and a second client, said first client attempting to exchange information securely with said second client via the P2P communication without a third party mediation, said third party mediation including certificate authorities; in response to the recognized P2P communication, establishing an electronic mail protocol communication between the first client and the second client after the P2P communication is recognized, said e-mail protocol communication being a separate connection from the P2P communication, said e-mail protocol communication being established by Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP); generating a first unique identifier (UID); transmitting from the first client to a previously known address of the second client, via the established electronic mail protocol communication, a first electronic mail (e-mail) message comprising the first UID; receiving from the second client, via the electronic mail protocol communication, a second e-mail message directed to the first client, said second e-mail message comprising a second UID and a copy of the first UID; verifying the copy of the first UID is identical to the first UID at the first client; and transmitting from the first client to the previously known address of the second client, via the electronic mail protocol communication, a third e-mail message to the second client comprising a copy of the second UID; wherein at least one of the e-mail messages transmitted to the previously known address between the first client and the second client further comprises the digital object, said digital object authenticating the information to be exchanged between the first client and the second client via the P2P communication and not authenticating the first e-mail message, the second e-mail message, or the third e-mail message.