Patent ID: 7047416

Claim:
A method of authenticating an account holder by an account authority, comprising the steps of: as part of setup of an account of the account holder: (a) recording information pertaining to the account in a database of the account authority, the information not including any third party digital certificates; (b) assigning a respective unique identifier to the account, such that the recorded information pertaining to the account is retrievable from the database based on its unique identifier; (c) associating a public key of a public-private key pair of the account holder with the unique identifier such that the public key is retrievable based on the unique identifier, wherein the private key is not stored in the database of the account authority but rather stored securely within a device of the account holder, the device being adapted to generate digital signatures using the private key stored therein; and thereafter: (d) receiving, by the account authority, an electronic communication containing the unique identifier, a message regarding the account, and a digital signature of the message; (e) retrieving from the database the associated public key based on the received unique identifier; (f) authenticating the digital signature using the associated public key to confirm that the digital signature was generated using the private key stored in the device and to confirm the integrity of the message; and (g) if the digital signature and message successfully authenticate using the associated public key, acting upon the message regarding the account without also requiring any third party digital certificate to authenticate the link between the public key and the account holder.