Patent ID: 7213147

Claim:
A method for managing secure collaborative transactions in which a first collaboration member and a second collaboration member update local data copies by exchanging delta messages which include data changes, comprising the steps of: (a) prior to performing collaborative transactions, selecting a level of security which determines whether authenticity and integrity and confidentiality of delta messages shall be protected; (b) if a level of security selected in step (a) requires protecting the authenticity and integrity of delta messages, prior to transmission of a delta message from a sender to a receiver, appending to the data therein, a message authentication code comprising selected information in the message, protected by a predetermined MAC algorithm using an authentication key; and (c) if a level of security selected in step (a) requires protecting the confidentiality of delta messages, prior to transmission of a delta message from a sender to a receiver, encrypting the data by a predetermined encryption algorithm using an encryption key which is different than the authentication key.