Patent ID: 6978369

Claim:
A method of communicating electronically over a communications medium regarding accounts, comprising the steps of: (a) for a first account, (i) maintaining information pertaining to the first account in an account database such that the information is retrievable based on a first unique identifier, (ii) associating a public key of a public-private key pair with the first unique identifier, (iii) generating a digital signature for an electronic message using a private key of the public-private key pair, the electronic message including an instruction and the first unique identifier, (iv) authenticating the electronic message using the public key associated with the information identified by the first unique identifier, and (v) upon the successful authentication of the electronic message, executing the instruction with respect to the first account represented by the information that is identified by the first unique identifier; and (b) for a second account, (i) maintaining information pertaining to the second account in an account database such that the information is retrievable based on a second unique identifier, (ii) associating the same public key that is associated with the first account with the second unique identifier, (iii) generating a digital signature for an electronic message using the private key of the public-private key pair, the electronic message including an instruction and the second unique identifier, (iv) authenticating the electronic message using the public key associated with the information identified by the second unique identifier, and (v) upon the successful authentication of the electronic message, executing the instruction with respect to the second account represented by the information that is identified by the second unique identifier.