Patent ID: 7912906

Claim:
A system comprising: a) a client computer communicatively coupled to a network and operated by a user, wherein the client computer is not relied on to store or recall PKI keys; b) an email server communicatively coupled to the network; c) a PKI email account website hosted on one or more computers in the network, communicatively coupled to the email server, and configured to: i) receive a request for a PKI email account from the user via the client computer, wherein the PKI email account is configured to access one or more cryptographic functions to securely receive and transmit email; ii) generate and send a certificate signing request, without interaction from the user, to a certificate authority integrated into one or more hardware and software resources shared between the PKI email account website and the certificate authority and configured to automatically trust one or more certificate signing requests from the PKI email account website; and iii) install the certificate upon receipt, without interaction from the user; and d) an email website displayed on the client computer, or any computer connected to the Internet, and configured, after authentication, to access the PKI email account website and to read and send email messages.