Patent ID: 6314190
Filing Date: 2001-11-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
In a computer system providing public key cryptography, a method for assisting with recovery of messages sent to users, the method comprising:generating a first key pair for a particular user, the first key pair comprising a public key employed for encrypting messages sent to the particular user and comprising a private key employed for decrypting messages which have been encrypted using the public key of the first key pair;generating a second key pair for message recovery, the second key pair comprising a public key employed for recovering messages which have been encrypted using the public key of the first key pair and comprising a private key employed for decrypting messages which have been encrypted using the public key of the second key pair;embedding within the public key of the first key pair information characterizing the public key of the second key pair;employing the public key of the first key pair during encryption of a message to create an encrypted copy of a random session key that has been employed directly to encrypt the message; andwhen the public key of the first key pair is employed during encryption of a message, automatically employing the public key of the second key pair during encryption of the message so that the message being encrypted can be recovered using the private key of the second key pair.