Patent ID: 7457955

Claim:
A method of communicating a message, comprising: a reader component receiving a message from a writer component, the message having at least one branding asset uniquely assigned to a sender domain adapted to provide a visible indicia to the recipient of the message in the recipient's inbox list view that the message arrived unaltered from the original sender that is indicated in a “from” field of an email header; determining whether a domain configuration of the reader component matches a sender domain configuration of a writer component, wherein a domain configuration comprises hash classes, cryptographic key generation classes and crytographic classes, and an algorithm index that de-references an index for hashing, cryptographic key generation and cryptography between the reader component and the writer component, wherein this information is included in the message; if the domain configuration of the reader component does not match the sender domain configuration of the writer component, initialing an error handling process; determining whether a cryptographic tag is included in the message, wherein the message further comprises the algorithm index and a tamper proof digest (TPD); if the cryptographic tag is included in the message, selecting a decryption algorithm for a cryptographic key based on the algorithm index, wherein the algorithm index is specific to the message; using the cryptographic key to decrypt the message; validating the TPD of the message, comprising, generating a value using the algorithm index; and comparing the generated value with the TPD of the message; the writer component receiving a message from an electronic message system client; determining whether the electronic message system client is in a network that comprises permissible domains, addresses and subnets; if the client is not in the network, initiating an error handling process; and if the client is in the network, retrieving a mapping between a “from” domain and a predetermined policy hash, and binding the policy hash as a message processing policy attribute, wherein the policy attribute determines domain specific processing of the message; and adding the at least one branding asset to the message, wherein the at least one branding asset is defined for a sender domain, and including a TPD in the message.