Patent ID: 8218769

Claim:
An encrypted communication system which uses key information generated by a session management server to achieve intra-group encrypted communication within any of a plurality of groups, respectively including a plurality of communication devices, the encrypted communication system comprising: a database which stores information relating to each of the communication devices; and a communication status management server which manages the intra-group encrypted communication performed by the communication devices, wherein: the database includes: a participating device address storage unit which stores a network address of each participating device that is currently logged in, from among communication devices belonging to any of the plurality of groups, so that the network address is associated with a device ID which identifies the communication device; and a group member information storage unit which stores the device ID of each of the communication devices, so that the device ID is associated with a group ID which identifies the group to which the communication devices belong; and the communication status management server includes: a group member extraction unit which, on receiving an intra-group encrypted communication request, refers to the group member information storage unit, and extracts device IDs of the communication devices belonging to a group corresponding to the group ID which is included in the intra-group encrypted communication request; and a participating device ID extraction unit which refers to the participating device address storage unit, extracts, from among the device IDs extracted by the group member extraction unit, a device ID of a participating device that belongs to a group corresponding to the group ID contained within the intra-group encrypted communication request, and that is currently logged in and outputs the device ID to the session management server, to thereby cause the session management server to distribute the key information for use in the intra-group encrypted communication within the group, to only participating devices that are currently logged in.