Patent ID: 8135950

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing digital, certificates, the method comprising: receiving, at a certificate handler, over a network an email from a user, the email including an encryption certificate having a public key associated with the user, the email requesting the encryption certificate to be added into a directory of an email directory server that provides email directory services to one or more email servers, wherein the email directory server is a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) server; extracting, by the certificate handler, the encryption certificate from the email, the encryption certificate being issued from a certificate authority other than the user, wherein the certificate handler and the user are separate entities; obtaining, by the certificate handler, a root certificate from the certificate authority, the root certificate corresponding to the encryption certificate; authenticating, by the certificate handler, the encryption certificate using the root certificate, wherein the certificate handler is a separate entity from the certificate authority; and upon successfully authenticating the encryption certificate, the certificate handler causing the encryption certificate to be stored in an entry of the directory of the email directory server based on an identity (ID) of the user, such that other users can obtain the encryption certificate from the email directory server to send an encrypted email to the user using the public key of the encryption certificate, wherein the encrypted email is to be decrypted by the user using a private key corresponding to the public key.