Patent ID: 8275991
Filing Date: 2012-09-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for verifying certificates appearing on a web site purporting to certify a membership of the web site owner with a particular organization, the system comprising a data base of public keys associated with a plurality of public organizations, each organization capable of creating a web-based certificate containing an electronic signature of the organization; an on-line membership verification platform for downloading a selected public key from the data base of public keys and, upon verifying the authenticity of the organization associated with the selected public key, signing the public key to create a signed public key and re-exporting the signed public key to a data base of signed public keys; a MIME type available as an add-on for a local browser that, when triggered, will verify the validity of an offered “certificate”, using as one input the data base of signed public keys, and provide a user with a graphical user interface (GUI) indication of either the validity or invalidity of the offered “certificate” without querying an additional site for validation.