Patent ID: 8850191

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of adding an entity to a group of entities, the method being performed by a first entity and comprising: receiving, at the first entity, a request from a second entity to join the group, the request being transmitted by the second entity after a digital certificate associated with the second entity is created by the second entity; receiving, from the second entity, the digital certificate associated with the second entity; adding the second entity to the group by (i) signing the received digital certificate associated with the second entity with a group private key associated with a certification authority for the group, (ii) adding the signed, digital certificate to a group roster, the group roster including a plurality of signed, digital certificates associated with the entities of the group, and (iii) adding an identifier associated with the second entity to the group roster, the identifier being associated with the signed, digital certificate associated with the second entity in the group roster; after adding the second entity to the group, distributing the group roster with the signed, digital certificate associated with the second entity to the group, the group including the second entity that transmitted the request; and after distributing the group roster, enabling communications to be exchanged between the first entity and the second entity, wherein enabling communications to be exchanged includes encrypting a communication that is to be transmitted from the first entity to the second entity using the signed, digital certificate associated with the second entity included in the group roster.