Patent ID: 7640427

Claim:
A method comprising: intercepting, at a secure server, an unencrypted message from a sender; searching a sequence of resources for a public key corresponding to a recipient of said unencrypted message according to a predetermined trust policy that specifies the sequence of resources as a hierarchy of networked resources on networked machines connected to said secure server including a local cache, a local certificate database, a recipient domain server and a designated key server; when said public key is found, encrypting said unencrypted message using said public key to create a secure message created during an encryption˜operation; and transmitting said secure message to said recipient; wherein said secure server transparently locates said public key and transmits said secure message to said recipient without input from said recipient during said encryption phase operation and' without said sender specifying that said secure message be transmitted; and wherein said secure server further comprises a module to identify that a user has established a first authentication connection with an electronic mail server and automatically creates a certificate for the user in response to the first authenticated connection with the electronic mail server.