Patent Application Titled “Registered Encrypted Electronic Message and Selected Content View Proof System” Published Online (USPTO 20220329558): Patent Application

2022 NOV 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventor Khan, Zafar (Redondo Beach, CA, US), filed on March 8, 2022, was made available online on October 13, 2022.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Mail assumed electronic format in 1965 and was given the name “Email”. Email started as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate with each other. Email was quickly extended to become ‘network email’, allowing users to pass messages between different computers by at least 1966. Email today has become a communications tool that is simple enough for individuals to use regardless of their level of technical knowledge or understanding of how email works.

“Today, email (electronic message transmission systems and protocols) are often relied on for important communications among people and used to instruct people to do things or transmit sensitive financial, health-related, strategic, or legal information that a sender may not want to be available to parties other than the email recipient.

“In many states, countries, and industries, there are regulations that require senders of certain information to send the information using systems that transmit the electronic message in a manner more private than standard email transmissions. One example is the US health care privacy regulation entitled, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in the United States, which provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. Another example is the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which includes provisions for email privacy compliance. GDPR defines what is to be achieved with compliance rather than how the requirements should be fulfilled. Consequently, it does not state a requirement to use a specific method of encrypting email, but it does require the handler of consumer non-public and personal information to maintain not only the privacy of that information but also the ability to demonstrate compliance with the privacy requirements. These requirements are discussed in detail in GDPR Article 5 Clause 1(f) and 2, and Article 32 Clause 1(a) and 1(d), which focus on the requirement to protect personal data during transmission with the ability to demonstrate the fact of protection of personal data.

“While a normal email and electronic message system user knows how to send, receive, read, reply-to, and forward an electronic message (email refers to any electronic message transmitted using electronic message transmission protocols), a normal email user neither knows how to transmit an email in a more secure or private manner, nor knows how to verify if a message is to be sent or was sent using a more secure or private manner as compared to a standard email. Upon receiving an email, a normal email user would not know how to verify if that email was received using a secure transmission or encrypted transmission. A normal email user will not know how to prevent a recipient of their sent secure transmission, from replying insecurely and, thereby, exposing their originally sent content that may be in the email thread.

“More advanced email users may configure their email program to automatically filter email to be placed in certain folders or mark email with various levels of importance. Even more advanced email users may set up systems to transmit email in a more private manner than in a standard email transmission; a standard email transmission being defined as an electronic message transmission sent using electronic messaging protocols such as SMTP, ESMTP, SMS, SMPP, MMS, HTTP, HTTPS, and combinations such as with SSL, TLS, and others.

“Some of these email users or their email operators may install third-party programs or encryption keys inside their existing email program to assist them in dealing with the various known and common security threats associated with email. Users (senders of email and/or recipients) or email system administrators may add software or enable settings at the email server, email gateway, or email user interface (commonly referred to as “Email Client”). These add-on software programs may add options to transmit messages in a more private manner than using standard messaging protocols. Some users may opt to upload their message to a secure server that would send a link to retrieve or view the message, and some may opt to compose their message in a secure program accessed securely in a web browser and then transmit. Some systems may send a message using secure application programming interfaces using protocols such as SOAP, REST, EDI exchange protocols, among others.

“There are a variety of methods of transmitting messages in a more private manner than using standard email transmission protocols. Some of these methods use PGP, PKI, AES 256-Bit PDF, Link-Retrieval, HTML Wrappers, and the like, with or without sending with a secure connection like TLS, SSL, or HTTPS. There are other protocols in secure messaging systems, including EDI, SMS, MMS, and the like.

“What is needed is a means for a sender or sending organization, or for a receiver, or for a receiver replying to a sender, to have a means to have (1) assurance of private transmission from a sending point to a receiving point (the sending end-point and receiving end-point may be different in different circumstances), (2) record fact of private transmission end-to-end, (3) provide a means for third-party verification of fact of private transmission, end-to-end, on a message-by-message basis, and (4) redacting and optionally additionally recording the redaction of message content or part of the message content upon a recipient reply (for example, a reply by the recipient will not transmit the designated private information in the recipient reply). The present invention satisfies these and other needs.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “In its most general aspect, the disclosure provides a system and method for protecting a sender or sender organization from the potential of breaches in information privacy policies that require certain messages or certain parts of messages to be transmitted in an encrypted manner or in a manner that minimizes the likelihood of accidental exposure of private information. In another aspect, the disclosure provides a system and method for protecting the sender or sender organization from a third-party claim that a message or a part of a message was not transmitted in an encrypted manner.

“In another aspect, the disclosure sets forth a system and method that provides a sender or sender organization visibility and proof of fact of encrypted delivery for peace of mind or protection in the case of privacy compliance audit, and visibility and proof of fact of receipt of an inbound message having been transmitted with encrypted delivery from the sender or sender agent. In one exemplary aspect, the sender may be protected when a recipient receives a message using a secure message transmission process that permits the recipient to reply to the message, potentially exposing the originally received message content if the reply includes the message thread and is returned without a secure transmission process. In another aspect, the disclosure sets forth a system and method to provide a sender or sender organization a verifiable proof of encrypted transmission and delivery of their email message, to be used during a Privacy Compliance Audit and for their peace of mind. In another aspect, the discloser sets forth a method to protect the sender when the receiver of a securely transmitted message replies to the message without encrypting it, thereby exposing the sender’s original message over the internet during its transmission.

“In still another aspect, the disclosure provides audit-ready records to verify secure delivery of electronic messages to better manage messaging policies and to provide readily accessible information in case of a data privacy compliance audit. In another aspect, the disclosure provides that the systems and methods set forth herein may have portions that may be implemented individually, each implemented partially or implemented together.

“In another aspect, the disclosure provides a sender or sending organization (or a receiver or a receiver replying) with a record of fact of encrypted delivery of an electronic message from one endpoint to a receiving endpoint. In another aspect, the disclosure further provides creating a record that includes sufficient information related to the private delivery such that it can be relied on as proof of fact of encrypted delivery.

“In yet another aspect, the disclosure provides a means for third parties to authenticate the record of fact of private delivery. In still another aspect, the disclosure creates a record to provide the sender of a message opportunities to make a reply to the sender’s message returned in a more private manner (so as not to expose the content or a part of the sender’s original information sent if contained in the reply message thread).

“In yet another aspect, the disclosure provides a means for the sender or third parties to authenticate the record of fact of certain content sent having been redacted or removed from a recipient’s reply message thread.

“In another aspect, the disclosure provides a system for providing a redacted reply service for an email message, comprising a server remote from a recipient programmed to: receive a message containing content marked by a sender for redaction, determine that the message contains content marked for redaction, determine if there are any settings established by the sender of the message that are to be used in processing the received message, remove content marked for redaction in accordance with the determined settings, reformat the message according to the determined settings, transmit the reformatted message, and information associated with the removed content to the recipient. In another aspect, the server is further programmed to store the removed content in a database stored in a memory. In still another aspect, the server is programmed to add a viewing limitation to the removed content to limit various parameters associated with the viewing of the stored removed content. In another aspect, the transmitted information associated with the removed content is a link providing access to the removed content stored in the database.

“In yet another aspect, the server is further programmed to add a link to the transmitted reformatted message that includes reply control information that limits the content that a reply message based on the transmitted reformatted message may contain. In one aspect, the control information prevents the reply from including the information associated with the removed content. In another aspect, the control information includes information established by the sender.

“In still another aspect, the disclosure provides a system for providing a registered encryption service for an email system, comprising a server remote from a recipient programmed to receive a message from a sender, parse one or more headers of the received message, store information associated with the one or more parsed headers in a database according to a security level or other data provided by the sender, secure the received message for transmission to an intended recipient, transmit the secured message, and information associated with the secured message, to the recipient. After, process the information stored in the database to determine the security level of the message, and generate a report related to the transmitted secured message and including an indication of the determined security level. In one aspect, the generated report is an authentication-ready report. In another aspect, the authentication-ready report is transmitted to the sender.

“In yet another aspect, the server is further programmed to store a record of a method used to secure the received message in a database stored in a memory. In another aspect, the server is further programmed to store a record including a portion of a transmission protocol used to transmit the secured message to the recipient in a database stored in a memory. In yet another aspect, the server is further programmed to store a record of a method used to secure the message delivered to the recipient in a database stored in a memory. In still another aspect, the server is further programmed to store a record of a method used by the sender or sender server to secure the message received from the sender and the method used to secure the message sent to recipient, in a database stored in a memory. In another aspect, the server is further programmed to record the enablement of the redaction of content from the message sent to the recipient. In yet another aspect, the server is further programmed to record the enablement of the redaction of content in the message sent from the sender to the recipient

“In yet another aspect, the present disclosure includes a system for tracking encrypted delivery of a message from a sender to a recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message from a sender, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator determining, based on indicators contained in the message received at the intermediate server, the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the sender as it is received at the intermediate server. In one alternative aspect, the indicators are contained in a message header of the received message. In another alternative aspect, the indicators of the level of security used are based on the format of the received message. In yet another alternative aspect, the indicators are contained in a message header and are based on the format of the received message.

“In still another aspect, the present disclosure includes a system for tracking encrypted delivery of a message from a sender to a recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message from a sender, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator analyzing values of indicators contained in a server dialog between the intermediate server and the recipient’s server or device, the server dialog being received at the intermediate server, and determining from that analysis the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the intermediate server to the recipient. In one alternative aspect, the indicators are contained in the server communication dialog. In yet another alternative aspect, the indicators analyzed by the translator are based on the method of transmitting the message or the format of the message. In still another alternative aspect, the indicators analyzed are contained in the server communication dialog and are based on the method of transmitting the message or the format of the message. In yet another alternative aspect, the indicators analyzed by the translator are included in messages received at the intermediate server, and the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the sender as it is received at the intermediate server is determined by the translator as a result of that analysis.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for tracking encrypted delivery of a message from a sender to a recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message from a sender, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator determining, based on indicators contained in the message received at the intermediate server, the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the sender as it is received at the intermediate server.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicators are contained in a message header of the received message.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicators are based on a format of the received message.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicators are contained in a message header and are based on a format of the received message.

“5. A system for tracking encrypted delivery of a message from a sender to a recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message from a sender, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator analyzing values of indicators contained in a server dialog received or message format sent between the intermediate server and the recipient’s server or device, the server dialog being received at the intermediate server, and determining from that analysis the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the intermediate server to the recipient.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the indicators are contained in the server communication dialog.

“7. The system of claim 5, wherein the indicators analyzed by the translator are based on the method of transmitting the message or the format of the message.

“8. The system of claim 5, wherein the indicators analyzed are contained in the server communication dialog and are based on the method of transmitting the message or the format of the message.

“9. The system of claim 5, wherein the indicators analyzed by the translator are included in messages received at the intermediate server, and the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the sender as it is received at the intermediate server is determined by the translator as a result of that analysis.

“10. A system for tracking overall encrypted delivery from a sender to a recipient via an intermediate server disposed between the sender and the recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message from a sender via a first transmission path, and also configured to transmit the received message to a recipient via a second transmission path, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator programmed using programming commands to: analyze the message sent along the first transmission path to determine values of first indicators contained in the message to determine the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the sender as it is received at the intermediate server, and analyze a server dialog received at the intermediate server or the message format sent by the intermediate server, the server dialog generated during the second transmission path between the intermediate server and the recipient’s server or device, the server dialog containing values of second indicators, to determine, from the values of the second indicators, the type of encryption or non-encryption of the message sent from the intermediate server to the recipient.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first indicators are contained in a header of the message.

“12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first indicators are based on a format of the message.

“13. The system of claim 10, wherein the first indicators are contained a message header and are based on a format of the message.

“14. The system of claim 10, where the second indicators are contained in a server communication dialog.

“15. The system of claim 10, wherein the second indicators are based on the method of transmitting the message to the recipient or a format of the message.

“16. The system of claim 10, wherein the second indicators are contained in a server communication dialog, the second indicators being based on the method of transmitting message or a format of the message.

“17. The system of claim 10, wherein the first and second indicators are logically associated with at least a portion of the original message content.

“18. A system for tracking overall encrypted delivery from a sender to a recipient via an intermediate server disposed between the sender and the recipient, comprising: an intermediate server configured to receive a message including original content from a sender via a first transmission path, and also configured to transmit the received message to a recipient via a second transmission path, the intermediate server including a translator, the translator programmed using programming commands to: analyze message headers or message format received at the intermediate server, analyze the server dialog received or message format sent when the message is transmitted from the intermediate server, to determine overall encryption status of the message, cryptographically associate the overall encryption status of the message with the original content of the message, and generate an encryption status report at the intermediate server.

“19. The system of claim 18, wherein the encrypted status report is determined to be associated with the original message content through the cryptographic association.

“20. The system of claim 18, wherein the encrypted status report includes content from the analyzing of the message headers received at the intermediate server and server dialog received from the transmission from the intermediate server and is determined to be associated with the original message content through the cryptographic association.

“21. A system for verifying at an intermediate server that is displaying a view of extracted content from a message, comprising: an intermediate server programmed using software commands to: receive a request to display extracted or redacted content from a message sent to a recipient, the request generated by an action taken at the recipient; transmit the extracted or redacted content to a browser located at the recipient; determine whether the extracted or redacted content from the message has been displayed by the browser at the recipient; and, if the extracted or redacted content was displayed at the browser, record at the intermediate server that the extracted or redacted content was viewed at the recipient, including at least one of transmitted via a secure connection, the security level of the transmission, other metadata of the fact of display of the redacted or extracted content in a recipient browser, times of viewing, duration of view, aggregate duration of all views, aggregate number of times viewed, location or device IP address or other device identifying information at the viewing device.

“22. The system of claim 21, wherein the redacted or extracted content is logically or cryptographically associated with the original content of the message.

“23. The system of claim 21, further comprising: the intermediate server programmed using software commands to render the record of the redacted or extracted content having been viewed and logically or cryptographically associated with the original content sent and at least one of the delivery information, transmission timestamp, or server transmission metadata associated with the original message transmission.

“24. The system of claim 21, further comprising: the intermediate server programmed using software commands to authenticate a portion of the recorded and rendered content and information without storage by the intermediate server or through secure storage in an intermediate server database.

“25. A system for verifying at an intermediate server that is displaying the content of a view whether the extracted or redacted content from a message has been displayed and viewed by an original intended recipient, comprising: an intermediate server programmed using software commands to determine at the intermediate server whether extracted or redacted content from a message received at the intermediate server from a sender and transmitted by the intermediate server to an original intended recipient has been displayed and viewed by the original intended recipient by receiving a web callout configured to automatically extract and request from the intermediate server the delivery of a pixel sized image or other image, recording at the intermediate server a first IP address of the request to the intermediate server, recording a second IP address associated with an action by the original intended recipient taken to click on a link in the message to view the redacted or extracted message content, comparing the first and second IP addresses, and transmitting a report to the sender or sender administrator a receipt or other report, a record or representation of the comparison.

“26. The system of claim 25, wherein the report indicates that the message was received and the extracted redacted information was viewed at the same location.

“27. The system of claim 25, wherein the report indicates that the message was received and viewed at same device.

“28. The system of claim 25, wherein the report indicates that the recipient viewing the message is at a different IP address from the recipient IP address viewing the extracted content.

“29. The system of claim 25, wherein the report indicates that the recipient viewing the message is at a different IP address from the recipient IP address viewing the extracted content.

“30. The system of claim 29, wherein the report includes timestamps of each viewing at the different IP addresses being displayed or reported as similar in time.

“31. The system of claim 25, wherein the report indicates that a recipient viewed the same message at a different IP addresses.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent application: Khan, Zafar. Registered Encrypted Electronic Message and Selected Content View Proof System. Filed March 8, 2022 and posted October 13, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220329558%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220329558&RS=DN/20220329558

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