| 摘要 |
A method for sending a secure message in a telecommunications system utilizing public encryption keys. All authentication parameters of each of the users, including each user's decryption key that is known only to the user, are used to verify, by public key methods, the identity of a user sending a communication to another user of the system. During the authentication process, an encryption key for use in communications between the two users may also be generated. The generated encryption key may be a private session key. Once the initial authentication is completed, the private session key can be used to perform encryption that is less computationally demanding than public key methods. In an embodiment of the invention, two communicating users may use the method to authenticate each other and generate an encryption key that is used to encrypt subsequent communications between the users. During the process of this embodiment, two encryption keys are generated. A first encryption key is used only in the authentication process, and a second encryption key is used in both the authentication process and as the key for encrypting subsequent communications. Use of two encryption keys requires that each of the two users apply its decryption key to complete the authentication and encryption key agreement process successfully.
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