Patent ID: 6978025

Claim:
A method for managing public keys through a server that stores associations between public keys and email addresses, comprising: receiving a first message from a client at the server, the first message containing a request for approval of a client public key along with a client public key; sending a second message from the server to the client, the second message containing a request for identity confirmation that includes the client public key; and if a third message is received from the client at the server containing an affirmative response to the request for identity confirmation, storing an association between a client email address and the client public key in a database, so that other clients can look up the client public key in the database; wherein, prior to sending the second message, the method further comprises determining if the database already contains a prior client public key associated with the client email address, if the database already contains the prior client public key, including the prior client public key in the request for identity confirmation sent to the client in the second message, so that the client can indicate that the server should replace the prior client public key with the client public key.