Patent attributes
A method and system for securely and efficiently processing transactions on a client computer with secure and insecure components. A secure transaction module runs on the secure components and uses certificates to authenticate client/server transactions. Users can fill in server-supplied forms with a very high degree of confidence that no malicious software has interfered, and that the server will get exactly what the user intended. The module maintains some tamper-resistant storage with labels indicating that certain registers can only be changed based on cryptographically secured commands from remote server domains. If such registers are scarce, then additional ones are simulated. Applications include managing online accounts, purchase of monetary credits that can be spent online, moving credentials on and off smart cards, using proxy signers to divide certificate authority responsibilities, creating self-destructing email documents, and digital rights management.
