Patent ID: 7814313

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: determine if a communication message from a sender device to the apparatus is cryptographically bound at least a first capability certificate and a second capability certificate; determine if the first and second capability certificates are signed using a private encryption key by at least one of a recipient and a trusted party that is independent from the sender device and the apparatus; determine if an unbroken link exists between the first capability certificate and the second capability certificate that are determined as signed by at least one of the apparatus and the trusted party; and receive the communication message when the communication message is cryptographically bound to the first and second capability certificates, when the unbroken link exists between the first and second capability certificate, and when a determination reveals that the apparatus created the first capability certificate and the trusted party created the second capability certificate, wherein each of the capability certificates includes a permission level indicator, and the indicator indicates at least three permission levels: a permission level (1) using a certificate only to send messages to a recipient but not to grant permission to other parties to send messages to the recipient, a permission level (2) using the certificate to grant permission to other parties to send messages to the recipient, but not to authorize the other parties to authorize additional parties, and a permission level (3) using the certificate to grant permission to other parties to authorize additional parties to send messages to the recipient.