Patent ID: 7549043
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of searching and retrieving certificates relating to a message received at a user's computing device from a sender, the message comprising data identifying a sender certificate associated with the message, wherein certificate identification data that uniquely identifies the sender certificate is generated from the data, and wherein the method comprises: receiving at least a part of the message and certificate identification data at the user's computing device, said certificate identification data generated at a server and added to the at least part of the message at the server; providing a certificate search request for certificates associated with the sender; performing a search on one or more certificate servers, wherein at least one query is submitted to the one or more certificate servers to request retrieval of certificates satisfying the certificate search request; retrieving at least one certificate satisfying the certificate search request from the one or more certificate servers; processing each retrieved certificate using the certificate identification data to determine if the retrieved certificate is the sender certificate associated with the message; and storing a one of the retrieved certificates on the user's computing device if the one of the retrieved certificates is the sender certificate associated with the message; wherein the certificate identification data comprises a serial number and issuer data for the sender certificate; and wherein said processing comprises parsing each retrieved certificate to obtain a respective serial number and issuer data for the retrieved certificate and comparing the respective serial number and issuer data to the serial number and issuer data for the sender certificate.