Patent ID: 7949873

Claim:
A method, comprising: utilizing a digital rights management service of a messaging device to randomly generate a challenge identifier; encrypting, at the messaging device, the challenge identifier with a first encryption key embedded in a first issuance license, thereby generating an encrypted challenge message, wherein the first issuance license is associated with a recipient messaging device located at a separate network location; communicating, from the messaging device to the recipient messaging device, the encrypted challenge message via a peer-to-peer communication link without utilizing a centralized messaging service; receiving, at the messaging device, an encrypted challenge return from the recipient messaging device, wherein the encrypted challenge return is a return challenge identifier encrypted with a second encryption key that is embedded in a second issuance license specific to the messaging device; decrypting the encrypted challenge return thereby providing the return challenge identifier; verifying that the return challenge identifier matches the challenge identifier; responsive to the verifying, establishing that network communications are secure when transmitting communications with the recipient messaging device; encrypting a communication to generate an encrypted communication that includes a control policy limiting use of the communication when received at the recipient messaging device; and communicating, from the messaging device to the recipient messaging device, the encrypted communication via the peer-to-peer communication link.