Patent ID: 8055729

Claim:
A method for authenticating an e-mail, the method comprising the steps of: a first mail server receiving a request from a user requesting to register a visual signature image with the first mail server, and in response, the first mail server furnishing a first identifier to the user; subsequently, the first mail server receiving (i) a request from the user requesting the first mail server to send an e-mail with the visual signature image and (ii) the e-mail and first identifier from the user, and in response, the first mail server validating the first identifier, and sending the e-mail with a second identifier to a second mail server, wherein the second identifier identifies an addressee of the e-mail; the first mail server receiving from the second mail server a request to send the visual signature image embedded with the second identifier; and the first mail server embedding the second identifier in the visual signature image and sending the visual signature image with the embedded second identifier to the second mail server.