Patent ID: 8644516

Claim:
A secure messaging system, comprising: a host security manager, provided on a host, that generates a session key pair and associates at least one session key of the session key pair with a unique session identifier and performs a secure key exchange with a cryptographic module, wherein a session key associated with said unique session identifier is securely provided to the cryptographic module, and wherein the host security manager performs counterpart cryptographic functions on at least a portion of information exchanged between the host and the cryptographic module that includes a credential and information of the secure key exchange corresponding to at least one of the session keys; and a security executive application, provided on the cryptographic module, that generates the unique session identifier and associates the unique session identifier with the exchanged key, wherein the security executive application performs counterpart cryptographic functions on at least a portion of the information exchanged between the host and the cryptographic module and verifies the credential initially before unlocking a credential protected application and wherein, after initial verification of the credential, the at least one of the session keys is temporarily granted permission to unlock the credential protected application for the duration of a session between the host and the cryptographic module, and wherein subsequent access to the credential protected application during the session is allowed by using the at least one of the session keys as a surrogate for the credential.