Patent ID: 8302160

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by an intermediary service component, a message from a sender computing system, the message comprising: an assertion including first authentication data, an attester signature of the message, and an attester certificate, the attester signature being a digital signature of a first attester; and second authentication data; creating, by the intermediary service component, a first digest based at least on an identifier of the message, the first authentication data, and a system secret; after the creating of the first digest, processing, by the intermediary service component, the message; after the processing the message, creating, by the intermediary service component, a new digest based at least on the identifier of the message, the first authentication data, and the system secret; determining, by the intermediary service component, whether the first digest conforms to the new digest; if it is determined that the first digest conforms to the new digest, creating, by the intermediary service component, a second assertion including the first authentication data, a second attester signature of the processed message and a second attester certificate, the second attester signature being a digital signature of a second attester different than the first attester; transmitting, by the intermediary service component, the second assertion and the processed message to a receiver computing system; prior to the processing the message, performing an authentication action based on the second authentication data, determining whether the attester's signature is valid, and determining whether the attester certificate is trusted.