Patent ID: 8607335

Claim:
A system for enhancing safety of computer file distribution comprising: a server computer connected to a computer network; one or more electronic records stored in the server computer, wherein the server computer is configured to assign safety information to each electronic record, the safety information specifying whether a file group containing a plurality of files is known to be authentic and safe, unknown as to safety, or known to be unsafe, wherein each electronic record is indexed by a hash value computed from the file group, and wherein the hash value is computed from the file group according to a hash calculation order; a database, stored in the server computer, including order information that defines the hash calculation order for the file group; and at least one user terminal connected to the computer network, the user terminal operable to verify the authenticity of an identified file group, including: querying the server computer to provide the order information for the identified file group; receiving the order information from the server computer; computing a hash value of the identified file group by hashing a plurality of files in the identified file group in accordance with the hash calculation order defined by the received order information; requesting, from the server computer, the safety information about the identified file group by submitting a request to the server computer which includes the computed hash value along with information identifying a user of the user terminal; in response to the request, receiving, from the server computer, the safety information for the identified file group and auxiliary information, wherein the auxiliary information is different from the safety information and based at least in part on the information identifying the user; and displaying the safety information for the identified file group along with the auxiliary information.