VERIFYING AUTHENTICITY OF VOICE MAIL PARTICIPANTS IN TELEPHONY NETWORKS

摘要

The application relates to voice mail messaging and in particular to methods for preventing a) that a caller is spoofed into believing that they are leaving a message on an intended voice mail message account, but are in fact leaving the message on a different voice mail message account; and b) fraudulent access to a voice mail box. The problem is solved by authentication certificates. Regarding a), the caller receives an authentication certificate of a voice mail account holder,- and regarding b), the voice mail box receives an authentication certificate of the caller. Authenticating the account holder and/or the caller is performed using authentication information contained within the respective certificate. After such authentication is successfully performed, a voice mail message record can be created in the account of the account holder. Such creating includes allowing the caller to store the message in the account of the account holder in addition to associating authenticated identification information of the caller with the message and/or providing authenticated identification of the account holder to the caller.