Virtual certificate authority
AssigneeGTE CyberTrust Solutions Incorporated
InventorsJ. Stuart Vaeth, Charles S. Walton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for creating and administering certificates digitally signed by a trusted entity (certificate authority) to ensure that certificated transactions are authenticated as that of a particular entity. Requests for a certificate, along with verification information, are directed to the certificate authority, where they are held and accessed by an entity having verification responsibilities (registration authority) and approved or disapproved.
Claims49
A method of operating a network connecting a user, a certificate-issuing authority, and a registration database of registered users maintained by a registration authority, comprising the steps of:
- requesting said certificate-issuing authority to issue a certificate for said user,
- storing said certificate request at said certificate-issuing authority,
- accessing said certificate request by said registration authority,
- comparing said certificate request with said database to make a decision by said registration authority relative to said certificate request, and
- sending to said certificate-issuing authority said decision.
A method of operating a computer system for providing digital certificates on a network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving via said network from a requester a request for issuance of a certificate,
- storing said certificate request,
- providing access via said network by a database-serving node to said stored certificate request,
- receiving from said database-serving node approval for issuance of a certificate, and
- generating a certificate in accordance with said certificate request and said approval.
Apparatus for providing digital certificates on a network comprising:
- means for receiving via said network from a requester a request for issuance of a certificate and associated data,
- means for storing said certificate request and data,
- means for providing access via said network by a database-serving node to said stored certificate request and data,
- means for receiving from said database-serving node approval for issuance of a certificate, and
- means for generating a certificate in accordance with said certificate request and said approval.
Apparatus for certifying a transaction comprising:
- an interface to a network,
- a storage device, and
- an application processor adapted for accepting from said network interface a request for issuance of a certificate, for writing said certificate issuance request to said storage device, for accepting from said network interface a request for access to said certificate issuance request written on said storage device, for reading said certificate issuance request from said storage device, for communicating to said network interface for transmission to the source of said request for access to said certificate issuance request, for accepting from said network interface an approval of said certificate issuance request, for directing the generation of a certificate in accordance with said certificate issuance request and said approval and for communicating to said network interface for transmission to the source of said certificate issuance request said generated certificate.
Apparatus for issuing a plurality of types of certificates for a transaction comprising:
- an interface to a network,
- a storage device,
- a plurality of cryptographic processors each associated with a type of certificate, and
- an application processor adapted for accepting from said network interface a request for issuance of a type of certificate, for writing said certificate issuance request to said storage device, for accepting from said network interface a request associated with said type of certificate for access to said certificate issuance request written on said storage device, for reading said certificate issuance request from said storage device, for communicating to said network interface for transmission to the source of said request for access to said certificate issuance request, for accepting from said network interface an approval of said certificate issuance request, for directing the cryptographic processor associated with said type of certificate to generate a certificate in accordance with said certificate issuance request and said approval and for communicating to said network interface for transmission to the source of said certificate issuance request said generated certificate.
A method of authenticating a network transaction comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request to authenticate a network transaction;
- providing an authorizing agent with access to the request to determine whether identifying information in the request corresponds to stored registration information on the requester;
- generating a certificate in accordance with the determination of the authorizing agent;
- and
- notifying the requester of the generated certificate.
A method of authenticating a network transaction comprising the steps of:
- receiving requests to authenticate network transactions;
- providing authorizing agents with access to specific requests to determine whether identifying information in the request corresponds with stored registration information;
- and
- notifying a specific requester in accordance with the determination of one of the authorizing agents.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.