Method and system for email identity validation

Non-transitory computer readable media containing program instructions for causing a computer to perform the following actions:

• receive, from a relying party, a Server-based Certificate Validation Protocol (SCVP) request, the SCVP request comprising an end-entity certificate issued to an asserting party;
• compare policy object identifier(s) (OIDs) asserted in the end-entity certificate to policy OIDs trusted by the relying party to determine a degree of trust information, the degree of trust information representing how likely the asserting party is who they claim to be, wherein the policy OIDs asserted in the end-entity certificate correspond to policies of a certification authority that issued the end-entity certificate to the asserting party, wherein the policy of the certification authority specifies identity-proofing practices followed by the certification authority when issuing the end-entity certificate to the asserting party the identity-proofing practices comprise verifying the identity of the asserting party per the policies of the certification authority, before the certification authority issues the end-entity certificate to the asserting party;
• send the degree of trust information to the relying party in response to the SCVP request, the degree of trust information being based on the comparison of policy OIDs;
• displaying, at an email client, a graphical representation of the degree of trust information,
• wherein the degree of trust information represents a level of trust attributable to a binding between a public key distributed via the end-entity certificate and the identity of the asserting party.

A system comprising:

• a Server-based Certificate Validation Protocol (SCVP) server comprising at least one processor and a memory, the SCVP server configured to:
• receive, from a relying party, an SCVP request, the SCVP request comprising an end-entity certificate issued to an asserting party,
• compare policy object identifier(s) (OIDs) asserted in the end-entity certificate to policy OIDs expressly trusted by the relying party to determine a degree of trust information, the degree of trust information representing how likely the asserting party is who they claim to be, wherein the policy OIDs asserted in the end-entity certificate correspond to policies of a certification authority that issued the end-entity certificate to the asserting party, wherein the policy of the certification authority specifies identity-proofing practices followed by the certification authority when issuing the end-entity certificate to the asserting party, the identity-proofing practices comprise verifying the identity of the asserting party the policies of the certification authority, before the certification authority issues the end-entity certificate to the asserting party,
• send the degree of trust information to the relying party in response to the SCVP request, the degree of trust information being based on the comparison of policy OIDs;
• an email client configured to display a graphical representation of the degree of trust information,
• wherein the degree of trust information represents a level of trust attributable to a binding between a public key distributed via the end-entity certificate and the identity of the asserting party.

A system comprising:

• a Server-based Certificate Validation Protocol (SCVP) server comprising at least one processor and a memory, the SCVP server configured to:
• receive an SCVP request comprising an end-entity certificate issued to an asserting party,
• compare policy object identifier(s) (OIDs) asserted in the end-entity certificate to policy OIDs trusted by a relying party to determine a degree of trust information, the degree of trust information representing how likely the asserting party is who they claim to be, wherein the policy OIDs asserted in the end-entity certificate correspond to policies of a certification authority that issued the end-entity certificate to the asserting party, wherein the policy of the certification authority specifies the identity-proofing practices followed by the certification authority when issuing the end-entity certificate to the asserting party, the identity-proofing practices comprise verifying the identity of the asserting party per the policies of the certification authority, before the certification authority issues the end-entity certificate to the asserting party,
• send the degree of trust information to the relying party in response to the SCVP request,
• displaying, at an email client, a graphical representation of the degree of trust information,
• the degree of trust information being based on the comparison of policy OIDs;
• wherein the degree of trust information represents a level of trust attributable to a binding between a public key distributed via the end-entity certificate and the identity of the asserting party,
• and
• wherein the relying party is an email recipient and the SCVP request is sent to the SCVP server upon the asserting party sending an email to the relying party.