Patent ID: 7802099

Claim:
A method for establishing a secure connection with a peer, comprising: obtaining an identity for the peer, wherein a digital certificate represents the identity for the peer; looking up the identity for the peer in a local store, which contains identities for trusted peers; and when trust cannot be established based on the identity, asking a user if the peer can be trusted; if the user indicates that the peer can be trusted, causing a secure connection to be established with the peer, wherein establishing the secure connection with the peer involves: starting with an unauthenticated connection with the peer; importing the digital certificate for the peer into the local store; if the digital certificate for the peer is a self-signed digital certificate, performing an out-of-band exchange to confirm the validity of the self-signed digital certificate, wherein the out-of-band exchange involves: selecting words from a dictionary based on a secure hash algorithm (SHA) hash; showing the words to the user; and receiving an indication that the user has confirmed the words verbally; and establishing the secure connection with the peer using the unauthenticated connection and the digital certificate for the peer; and if the user indicates that the peer cannot be trusted, taking a remedial action.