Patent ID: 8914641

Claim:
A method in an originating computing device, the method comprising: retrieving, at the originating computing device, a message for signing at the originating computing device to yield a signature for the message; identifying multiple hashing algorithms to be supported by the signature, the signature comprising at least hash identities (hash IDs), the hash IDs being a mask of 8 bits for an ordered set corresponding to the multiple hashing algorithms to be supported by the signature; for each of the multiple hashing algorithms identified to be supported by the signature, hashing the message to yield multiple hashes of the message corresponding to the multiple hashing algorithms identified; constructing a single digest having therein each of the multiple hashes of the messages corresponding to the multiple hashing algorithms identified and further specifying the multiple hashing algorithms to be supported by the signature; applying a signing algorithm to the single digest using a private key of the originating computing device to yield the signature for the message; and distributing the message and the signature to receiving computing devices.