Patent ID: 7783883

Claim:
A method of authenticating an e-mail message, comprising the steps of: receiving from a user an e-mail address and a code, the code having been received by the user with an e-mail message sent to the e-mail address; hashing, at least one time, a set of data comprising a string corresponding to at least a portion of the e-mail address, and an identifier not received by the user, to produce a hash result; comparing the hash result with the code; responsive to the code corresponding to the hash result, indicating the e-mail message is authentic; and responsive to the code not corresponding to the hash result, indicating the e-mail message is not authentic; wherein the identifier comprises a pass phrase; wherein the e-mail message is one of a given set of e-mail messages sent to respective ones of a plurality of e-mail addresses, and the identifier corresponds to the given set of e-mail messages such that each e-mail message within the given set of e-mail messages is associated with that identifier; and wherein the steps are performed by at least one processor operatively coupled to at least one storage.