MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC v. Apple Inc.

Filing 1

COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT filed with Jury Demand against Apple Inc. - Magistrate Consent Notice to Pltf. ( Filing fee $ 350, receipt number 0311-1235213.) - filed by MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit A)(cla, )

EXHIBIT A

111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
US007096358B2

United States Patent

(10)

Zizzi

(12)

(45)

(54)

ENCRYPTING FILE SYSTEM

(75)

Inventor:

(73)

Assignee: MAZ Technologies, Inc., Las Vegas,
NV (US)

( *)

Notice:

(21)

Appl. No.: 10/658,246

(22)

Filed:

4,584,639
4,588,991
4,591,975
4,633,036
4,757,533
4,780,821
4,780,905
4,807,287
4,893,338
4,893,340
4,907,228
4,916,704
4,924,378
4,937,861
4,956,769
4,981,370

Stephen Zizzi, Albany, NY (US)

Subject to any disclaimer, the tenn of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.c. 154(b) by 436 days.

Sep. 8, 2003
Prior Publication Data

(65)

US 2004/0059912 Al

Patent No.:
Date of Patent:

Mar. 25, 2004

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4/1986
5/1986
5/1986
12/1986
7/1988
10/1988
10/1988
2/1989
111990
111990
3/1990
4/1990
5/1990
6/1990
9/1990
111991

US 7,096,358 B2
Aug. 22, 2006

Hardy ........................ 364/200
Atalia ................... 340/825.31
Wade et al. ................ 364/200
Hellmann et al. ....... 178/22.11
Allen et al. ................... 380125
Crossley ..................... 364/200
Cruts et al. ................... 380/44
Tucker et al. ................. 380123
Pastor . ........................ 380125
Lubarsky et aI. ............. 380/80
Bruckert et al. ........... 371168.3
Bruckert et al. ........... 371168.3
Hershey et al. ............. 364/200
Cummins ...................... 38012
Smith ......................... 364/200
Dziewit et al. ............... 380125

Related U.S. Application Data
(63)

(51)
(52)
(58)

Continuation-in-part of application No. 09/259,991,
filed on Mar. 1, 1999, now Pat. No. 6,981,141, which
is a continuation-in-part of application No. 09/074,
191, filed on May 7, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,185,681.

(Continued)
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Vault Corp., The Snoop-Proof Disk, Filelok, p. 2 of 2.

Int. Cl.
H04L 9/32
(2006.01)
U.S. Cl. ......................... 713/165; 7131164; 726/27
Field of Classification Search ................ 7131159,
7131164,165,172,185; 726/27,28; 380/286
See application file for complete search history.

(Continued)

Primary Examiner-Justin T. Darrow
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-SoCal IP Law Group LLP;
Steven C. Sereboff; Joel G. Landau
(57)

ABSTRACT

References Cited

(56)

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
4,238,854
4,278,837
4,386,234
4,432,064
4,438,494
4,442,484
4,453,074
4,551,810
4,558,413
4,568,936
4,573,119

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A

1211980
711981
511983
211984
311984
411984
611984
1111985
1211985
211986
211986

An encryption method that is largely transparent to a user is
accomplished by intercepting a change document or open
document command, carrying out an encryption or decryption process, and then completing the command on an
encrypted or decrypted file. The encryption method can be
used in a wide variety of environments, such as an individual
computer program, a database or electronic messaging over
the Internet. The encryption method can select from a
plurality of encryption algorithms.

Ehrsam et al. ................. 375/2
Best ........................ 178/22.09
Ehrsam et al. ........... 178/22.09
Barker et al. ............... 3611550
Budde et al. ............... 364/200
Childs, Jr. et al. .......... 364/200
Weinstein ................... 235/380
Levine ....................... 364/475
Schmidt et al. ............. 364/300
Goldman ............... 340/825.34
Westheimer et al. ........ 364/200

15 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets

,530
5hould-..,J

<document be>---Yes

de'tted?
No

US 7,096,358 B2
Page 2

u.s. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,005,174
5,007,082
5,052,040
5,063,596
5,065,312
5,068,780
5,099,485
5,113,442
5,142,578
5,153,881
5,163,138
5,175,852
5,224,166
5,249,187
5,251,227
5,255,367
5,263,147
5,263,157
5,276,859
5,289,540
5,291,494
5,313,579
5,319,705
5,325,430
5,333,198
5,339,408
5,343,525
5,347,559
5,388,196
5,394,469
5,404,861
5,406,624
5,410,598
5,410,693
5,416,842
5,455,863
5,463,772
5,483,649
5,490,100
5,490,252
5,495,533
5,506,961

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411991
411991
911991
1111991
1111991
1111991
311992
511992
811992
1011992
1111992
1211992
611993
911993
1011993
1011993
1111993
1111993
111994
211994
311994
511994
611994
611994
711994
811994
811994
911994
211995
211995
411995
411995
411995
411995
511995
1011995
1011995
111996
211996
211996
211996
411996

Bruckert et al ............ 371168.3
Cummins ...................... 380/4
Preston et al. ................. 380/4
Dyke ... ... ..... ... ... ... ...... 380/49
Bruckert et al ............. 395/575
Bruckert et al ............. 395/700
Bruckert et al ............ 371168.3
Moir . ... ... ..... ... ... ... ...... 380/25
Matyas et al. ................ 380/21
Bruckert et al ............ 371111.3
Thirumalai ................. 395/325
Johnson et al. ............. 395/600
Hartmann, Jr. .............. 380/50
Bruckert et al ............ 371168.1
Bruckert ...................... 371112
Bruckert ..................... 395/200
Francisco et al ............ 385/425
Janis .......................... 395/600
Reede ......................... 385/55
Jones ............................ 380/4
Bruckert et al ............ 371111.3
Chao .......................... 395/200
Halter ........................... 380/4
Smyth ........................... 380/4
Houlberg et al. ............. 380/49
Bruckert et al ............. 395/575
Hung et al. .................... 380/4
Hawkins ...................... 377/54
Pajak et al. ................. 385/153
Nagel et al .................... 380/4
Wild .......................... 123/674
Tulpan .......................... 380/4
Shear ............................ 380/4
Yu et al. ..................... 395/600
Aziz ........................... 380/30
Brown et al. ................. 380/23
Thompson et al .......... 375/600
Kuzhetsov et al .......... 395/186
Kableshkov ................ 364/736
Macera et al. ......... 395/200.01
Linehan et al. ............... 380/21
Carlson ...................... 395/186

5,511,122
5,546,583
5,584,023
5,596,718
5,596,745
5,598,470
5,600,831
5,657,470
5,694,472
5,699,428
5,713,018
5,721,777
5,778,072
5,787,169
5,796,825
5,815,571
5,870,468
5,870,477
5,940,507
5,987,123
6,023,506
6,105,133
6,134,659
6,154,840
6,192,472
6,249,866
6,378,071
6,564,321

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Bl
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Bl

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4/1996
8/1996
12/1996
111997
111997
111997
2/1997
8/1997
12/1997
12/1997
111998
2/1998
7/1998
7/1998
8/1998
9/1998
2/1999
2/1999
8/1999
11/1999
2/2000
8/2000
10/2000
1112000
2/2001
6/2001
4/2002
5/2003

Atkinson ..................... 380/25
Shriver ....................... 395/650
Hsu ........................... 395/620
Boebert ................. 3751187.01
Lai et al. .................... 395/614
Cooper et al. ................. 380/4
Levy et al. ................. 395/602
Fisherman et al. . ........ 395/480
Johnson et al. ............. 713/189
McDonnal et al. ............ 380/4
Chan .......................... 395/610
Blaze ............................ 380/4
Samar ......................... 380/30
Eldridge et al ................ 380/4
McDonnel et al. ............ 380/4
Finley ........................... 380/4
Harrison ........................ 380/4
Sasaki et al. ................. 380/25
Cane et al. .................... 380/4
Scott et al. .................... 380/4
Ote et al. ...................... 380/4
Fielder et al. .............. 713/169
Sprong et al. .............. 713/190
Pebleyet al ................ 713/160
Garay et al. ................ 713/165
Brundrett et al ............ 713/165
Sasaki et al. ............... 713/165
Bobo .......................... 713/68

OTHER PUBLICATIONS
FWB Inc. of San Francisco, CA., Hard Disk Partition (TM ) v3.
Symantec Corp., Norton Utilities for DOS/Windows 3.x.
Secure File System Information, Secure File System (SFS) for
DOS/Windows.
Invincible Data Systems, Inc., Invincible Disk, p. 1 of 1.
Kiran Movva, Security Designed for Your Eyes Only, p. 1 of 5.
Ermelindo Mauriello, Transparent Cryptogaphic File System.
A. Del Sorbo, Design and Implementation of a Transparent Cryptographic File System for Unix, p. 1 of 6, Universita di Salerno,
Baronissi (SA), Italy.
VDDR.TXT, Virtual Encrypted Disk Facility, p. 1 of 12.

* cited by examiner

u.s. Patent

Aug. 22, 2006

Sheet 1 of 5

US 7,096,358 B2

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u.s. Patent

Aug. 22, 2006

Sheet 3 of 5

US 7,096,358 B2

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retrieves key
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'(

530
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pass control to
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retrieves key
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US 7,096,358 B2
1

2

ENCRYPTING FILE SYSTEM

74% of the respondents said their security risks have
increased over the prior two years;
more than a quarter said that their security risks have
increase at a faster rate than the growth of their computing;
55% of the respondents lacked confidence that their
computer systems could withstand an internal attack
71 % of security professionals are not confident that their
organizations are protected from external attack; and
two thirds of the respondents reported losses resulting
from a security breach over the prior two years.
The bottom line is simple-the more information available, the more security needed.
It has been said that "There is no need to break the
window of a house if the front door is unlocked." This
saying certainly applies to computer security. The "unlocked
doors" in electronic information security include:
email;
electronic document management (including non-EDMS
file systems); and
stolen hardware.
One of the fastest growing means of communication
today is email. It is estimated that over one million e-mail
messages pass through the Internet every hour. Email
provides a quick, economical, easy to use method of sharing
both thoughts and electronic information. Unfortunately, e
mail is like an electronic postcard for the world to see. It is
transmitted across the Internet using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). This protocol has virtually no security
features. Messages and files can be read by anyone who
comes into contact with them.
The number of documents managed by organizations
increases daily. Knowledge is becoming the most important
product for companies today. As EDM enhances a company's productivity and efficiency to manage that knowledge
it also exposes that company to unauthorized access to that
knowledge. The typical EDMS solely relies on password
protection for security.
The value of the approximately 265,000 portable computers (laptops, notebooks, palmtops) reported stolen in
1996 was $805 million, a 27% increase from 1995. However, the data on these portable computers is worth much
more than the hardware itself. It is critical that the data
stored on any type of hardware, whether it is a desktop
computer, portable computer or server, must be properly
secured form any unauthorized access.
Some of the "locks" used for electronic information
security include:
passwords,
firewalls,
smart cards, and
encryption.
Passwords are often used to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing electronic data. Passwords may also
be used to link activities that have occurred to a particular
individual. The problem with passwords is that if any
unauthorized party steals or guesses a password, the security
of the computer system may be severely compromised.
Passwords are wholly inadequate for file archiving.
Systems using firewalls prevent intruders from accessing
the firm's internal systems. Password-based firewall systems
do not provide positive user identification nor do they
protect electronic data that is stored on a server, has left the
firm on a portable computer, is sent via email over the
Internet, or is stored on a floppy disk.
The typical smart card is a self contained, tamper resistant, credit card size device that serves as a storage device

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of application
Ser. No. 09/259,991 filed Mar. 1, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.
6,981,141; which is a continuation-in-part of application
Ser. No. 091074,191 filed May 7, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No.
6,185,681, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein
by reference.

10

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE
DRESS
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document
contains material which is subject to copyright protection.
This patent document may show and/or describe matter
which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The
copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the
facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as
it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or
records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress
rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cryptographic
systems and electronic document management systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Global access of electronic information can be critical for
even the smallest of businesses today. Very few companies
operate solely within the boundaries of a single location or
their employee list. Over the last 25 years technology has
rapidly advanced and expanded these boundaries. The
advent of such technologies as the Internet, intranets, extranets, and email have made the electronic transfer of
information common place in businesses today. Management of business information is critical to the success of
modem businesses. A technology known as Electronic
Document Management (EDM) aims to provide organizations with the ability to find any document, created in any
application, by anyone, at any time, dealing with any subject, at any place in the world. EDM includes managing
multiple versions of a document. PC DOCS, Inc. (Burlington, Mass.) is one of the world's leading providers ofEDM
solutions. With the advanced technology of EDM comes a
wide variety of information that has varying economic
values and privacy aspects. Users may not know what
information is monitored or intercepted or who is using their
computer.
An electronic document management system (EDMS) is
a combination of databases, indexes, and search engines
utilized to store and retrieve electronic documents distributed across an organization. An EDMS is designed to
provide the structure required for an organization to properly
manage and share its electronic document resources
A wide array of information is typically stored in a
company's EDMS. This includes:
strategic and corporate plans;
proprietary product and service information;
confidential legal documents;
private health information; and
private employment information.
As companies increase the efficiency of accessing more
information, their security risks also increase. According to
a recent survey by Ernst & Young LLP:

15

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US 7,096,358 B2
3

4

and is equipped with an integrated microprocessor chip an
non-volatile electronic memory. The smart card processes
information on the integrated microprocessor chip. Security
is enhanced because the user must have the smart card along
with the user's confidential infonnation (e.g., a password) to
gain access to their computer files. Passwords are kept off
computer hosts and on the smart card to enhance security.
Smart cards typically can only be accessed with a user
defined password. Many smart cards include a lock-out
feature so that failed attempts at the smart card password
will lock the card out to prevent any unauthorized or
fraudulent use of the smart card. ISO 7816 compliant smart
cards and smart card readers follow industry standards.
Increasingly, information technology professionals are
turning to encryption technologies to ensure the privacy of
business infonnation. Encryption can provide confidentiality, source authentication, and data integrity. Unfortunately
encryption generally is cumbersome and difficult to use. A
major obstacle for the implementation of encryption technologies has been their disruption to the users' workflow.
Encryption is a process of scrambling data utilizing a
mathematical function called an encryption algorithm, and a
key that affects the results of this mathematical function.
Data, before becoming encrypted, is said to be "clear text."
Encrypted data is said to be "cipher text." With most
encryption algorithms, it is nearly impossible to convert
cipher text back to clear text without knowledge of the
encryption key used. The strength of the encrypted data is
generally dependent upon the encryption algorithm and the
size of the encryption key.
There are two types of encryption: symmetric (private
key) and asymmetric (public key).
Private key encryption uses a common secret key for both
encryption and decryption. Private key encryption is best
suited to be used in trusted work groups. It is fast and
efficient, and properly secures large files. The leading private
key encryption is DES (Data Encryption Standard). DES
was adopted as a federal standard in 1977. It has been
extensively used and is considered to be strong encryption.
Other types of private key encryption include: Triple-DES,
IDEA, RC4, MD5, Blowfish and Triple Blowfish.
Public key encryption uses a pair of keys, one public and
one private. Each user has a personal key pair, and the user's
public (or decryption) key is used by others to send
encrypted messages to the user, while the private (or decryption) key is employed by the user to decrypt messages
received. Public key encryption and key generation algorithms include the public domain Diffie Hellman algorithm,
the RSA algorithm invented by Riverst, Shamir and Adleman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
and the Pretty Good Privacy algorithm (PGP) developed by
Phil Zimmermarm. Because of their mathematical structure,
public key encryption is slower than most private key
systems, thus making them less efficient for use in a trusted
network or for encrypting large files.
Although these private key and public key encryption
algorithms do a good job at maintaining the confidentiality
of the encrypted matter, they have numerous problems. The
biggest obstacle to adoption of any type of encryption
system has been ease of use. Typical encryption systems are
very cumbersome. They require a user to interrupt their
nonnal work flow, save their clear text document, activate
the separate encryption software, and save the cipher text
document under a different name. Where the subject document is ordinary e-mail contents, the process is especially

cumbersome, because the clear text must first be created in
a separate application, then encrypted, then attached to the
e-mail message.
A major concern in computing today is "total cost of
ownership," or TCO. TCO recognizes that while a program
might be inexpensive (or even free in the case of PGP for
non-commercial use), there are significant costs in using the
software. This includes the cost of installation, training, lost
productivity during use and from bugs, and maintenance.
Even where one of the typical encryption systems might
satisfy a user's TCO needs, they may not even be an
available option. For example, typical EDMSes are selfcontained and are not compatible with typical encryption
systems.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a
document encryption and decryption system which solves
these problems. It is a further object to provide a document
encryption and decryption system which works with minimal disruption of a user's nonnal workflow. It is a further
object to provide a document encryption and decryption
system which is compatible with EDMSes. It is a further
object to provide a document encryption and decryption
system which minimizes TCO. It is a further object to
provide a document encryption and decryption system
which takes advantage of the features of smart cards which
are not available from pure on-line security systems.

10

15

20

25

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
30

35

40

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer network III
accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer
in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a cryptographic
system in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an encryption process in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a decryption process in accordance with the invention.
These and additional embodiments of the invention may
now be better understood by turning to the following
detailed description wherein an illustrated embodiment is
described.

45

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
INVENTION

50

55

60

65

Throughout this description, the preferred embodiment
and examples shown should be considered as exemplars,
rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods of the
present invention.
FIG. 1 shows a local area network (LAN) 100. To network
communication lines 160 are coupled a number ofworkstations 150a, 150b, 150c, 150d. A number of file servers 120a,
120b also are coupled to the network communication lines
160. The network communications lines 160 may be wire,
fiber, or wireless chaunels as known in the art. A user at any
of the workstations 150 preferably may log on to at least one
file server 120 as known in the art, and in some embodiments
a workstation 150 may be logged on to multiple file servers
120. One or more remote workstations 170 may be provided
for dial-in access to the server 120a through the public
switched telephone network 130 or other remote access
means. Network printers 140a, 140b are also provided for
printing documents. The network 100 may also include
hubs, routers and other devices (not shown).

US 7,096,358 B2

5

6

FIG. 2 shows a general purpose computer 200 which is
representative of the workstations 150 and file servers 120.
The computer 200 preferably includes an Intel Corporation
(San Jose, Calif.) processor 255 and runs a Microsoft
Corporation (Redmond, Washington) Windows operating
system. In conjunction with the processor 255, the computer
200 has a short term memory 250 (preferably RAM) and a
long term memory 280 (preferably a hard disk) as known in
the art. The computer 200 further includes a LAN interface
215, a display 205, a display adapter 220, a keyboard 230,
a mouse 240, a smart card reader 260 and a bus 210 as
known in the art.
The smart card reader 260 preferably complies with ISO
7816, a standard available from the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI). To interface the smart card
reader 260 to the computer's Windows operating system and
other software, the computer 200 preferably includes an API
provided by the smart card reader manufacturer. Alternatively, the computer 200 may include Microsoft's smart card
API-SCard COM, available at www.microsoft.com/smartcard.
A user's smart card 265 preferably stores a unique user ID
and password and a definable hierarchy of encryption keys.
The hierarchy preferably forms a table wherein a key name
is associated with each key value in the table, and the table
may store both encryption keys and decryption keys as
necessary for the selected cryptographic algorithms. It
should be appreciated that, in private key cryptography, the
same key value is used for both encryption and decryption.
Although something as simple as a user ID/password
scheme could be used with the keys stored in the disk 280
or memorized by the user, a data reader device and portable
data storage device such as the smart card reader 260 and
smart card 265 are preferred. Instead of the smart card reader
260 and smart card 265, there could be provided, for
example, a biometric recognition system, wireless identification devices, hand held tokens, etc. Preferably, the portable data storage device can securely store one or more
encryption and decryption keys. However, a biometric recognition system may provide key selection based on inherent biometric features, eliminating the need to actually store
keys in a component external to the computer 200. Where
the portable data storage device is used solely as a source of
positive identification (i.e., authentication), the keys may be
stored on the 120 file server for example and accessed
through a certificate mechanism.
Before proceeding, a few terms are defined. By "file
server" it is meant a computer which controls access to file
and disk resources on a network, and provides security and
synchronization on the network through a network operating
system. By "server" it is meant hardware or software which
provides network services. By "workstation" it is meant a
client computer which routes commands either to its local
operating system or to a network interface adapter for
processing and transmission on the network. By "client" it
is meant software which is serviced by a server. A workstation may function as a server by including appropriate
software, and may be for example, a print server, archive
server or communication server. By "software" it is meant
one or more computer interpretable programs and/or modules related and preferably integrated for performing a
desired function. By "document" it is meant a named,
structural unit of text, graphics and/or other data that can be
stored, retrieved and exchanged among systems and users as
a separate unit.
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a conceptual
block diagram of several functional units relevant to the

invention which operate within the file server 120 and
workstation 120. The workstation 150 includes at least one
application 350. The application 350 is a collection of
software components used to perform specific types of
user-oriented work and may be, for example, a graphic
editor, a word processor or a spreadsheet.
As is typical in the art, the workstation 150 obtains access
to the file server 120 through a user ID and password system
which extends to the file system on the file server 120. The
file server has an access server 315 for handling the filer
server's user authentication and access control duties, and
the workstation 150 include an access client 310 through
which a user signs on to the file server 120. In the preferred
embodiment, the access server 315 is a part of Windows NT
Server, and the access client 310 is a part of Windows 95 and
Windows NT Workstation. Other operating systems such as
Unix and Novell Netware also include access servers and
access clients for providing user authentication and file level
security.
Within the file server 120 there is preferably an EDM
server 310. To interface with the EDM server 325, the
workstation 150 includes an EDM client 320, sometimes
referred to as an "EDM plug-in." The EDM server 325
controls an EDM database 345 and EDM indexes (not
shown), and preferably provides EDM search engines. The
EDM database 345 itself may be distributed, for example
across file systems and file servers, and may be entirely or
partially in the workstation 150. The EDM server 325 may
include a database server such as a SQL server for interfacing to the EDM database 345. The EDM client 320 provides
the workstation with an interface to the EDM server and
therefore allows access by a user at the workstation 150 to
the EDM database 345, indexing and search services provided by the EDM server 325.
The EDMS of the preferred embodiment is SQL-based.
Thus, the EDM database 345 comprises a SQL database, the
EDM server 325 comprises a SQL server, and the EDM
client 320 comprises a SQL plug-in. The SQL database
stores file and file location information. A "repository,"
which could be considered part of the EDM database 345,
stores the files, and is managed and distributed using techniques known in the art. In older EDM systems, the SQL
plug-in comprises special software which adapted particular
popular applications for use with the EDMS. However, with
the promulgation of the Open Document Management
Architecture (ODMA) specification, applications are available which operate seamlessly with many contemporary
EDM systems. Under ODAM, the EDM plug-in registers
itself so that it handles file I/O.
The EDM server 325, EDM database 345 and EDM client
320 are described herein as wholly separate from the respective operating systems of the file server 120 and workstation
150. However, much ifnot all of the EDM server 325, EDM
database 345 and EDM client 320 could be fully integrated
into and even become a part of the respective operating
systems. In such an embodiment, the EDMS is just another
part of an operating system's general file and data management features.
As can be seen, the access server 315 and the access client
310 functionally reside between the EDM server 325 and the
EDM client 320, thereby separating the EDM server 325 and
EDM client 320 with a measure of security. This aspect of
FIG. 3 is the typical prior art configuration, and it provides
file-level security for documents in the EDM database 345
controlled by the EDM server 325.
Positioned functionally between the application 350 and
the EDM client 310 is a crypto server 330. In typical prior

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art systems, the application 350 would communicate directly
with the EDM client 310. However, in accordance with the
invention, the crypto server 330 is functionally disposed
between the application 350 and the EDM client 310, and
intercepts or traps I/O requests by the application which
otherwise would be intercepted or trapped by the EDM
client 310.
The crypto server 330 of the invention is a software
module which transparently handles the encryption of documents and the decryption of encrypted documents, making
encryption and decryption simple and easy to use. The
crypto server 330 handles encryption and decryption without
requiring user input and without normally displaying status
information during normal encryption and decryption operations. Preferably, the user or a system administrator may
establish a system-level configuration determinative of
when error messages should be displayed. Preferably, also,
the system administrator may create and maintain a file
administration table in the EDM database 345 which defines
criteria for which files are to be encrypted and which key to
use. The crypto server 330 utilizes the file administration
table, for example, to determine if a new file should be
encrypted, and which encryption key to use to encrypt the
new file. The crypto server 330 preferably utilizes and
updates an encrypted files table in the EDM database 345
which lists each encrypted file.
The crypto server 330 may itself comprise a number of
functional units. For example, the crypto server 330 preferably includes interfaces to one or more cryptographic systems, such as those described in the Description of the
Related Art section above. The crypto server 330 preferably
also includes an interface to the smart card reader 260 (FIG.
2) for reading the smart card 265. The smart card 265
preferably is used to keep the encryption and decryption
keys separate from the workstation 150 and provide positive
user identification. The crypto server 330 also works with
the access client 310 in performing user authentication and
access. In particular, the typical prior art user access process
is enhanced by requiring that the user enter a user ID and
password which are stored on the user's smart card 265.
Turning now to FIG. 4, there is shown a flowchart of the
encryption process in accordance with the invention. After
the process begins (step 405), it is preferred that the user
submit to authentication by the access client 310 and access
server 315 (step 410). The authentication step is preferably
performed when the user signs onto the workstation 150.
Preferably, the user must insert his smart card 265 into the
smart card reader 260 and enter the user ID and password
stored on the smart card 265. Once authenticated, the smart
card 265 then makes available, as needed, the encryption
and decryption key information stored therein.
At some point after the user has been authenticated, the
user will be working on a document in the application 350,
and at some point issue a "close," "save" or "save as"
command as known in the art (step 415). The command is
then translated into an "event" (step 420), and the crypto
server 330 traps this event (step 425). Techniques for translating commands into events and trapping events are well
known in the art and are typically different for each operating system. In Windows, the event translation step comprises generating an event message.
The trapped event has the effect of alerting the crypto
server 330 that it may be necessary to encrypt the document.
However, preferably before encrypting the document, the
crypto server 330 tests whether the document should be
encrypted (step 430). Preferably, at least three different tests
are performed.
In the first test, the crypto server 330 tests whether the
user has been authenticated. The first test is relatively
simple. Where the smart card 265 or similar means is used

for storing keys, this test is necessary because the keys will
not even be available unless the user was authenticated.
In the second test, the crypto server 330 tests whether the
document was already encrypted when it was opened by the
application 350. By default, a document which was already
encrypted when opened should be encrypted when closed or
saved.
In the third test, the crypto server 330 tests whether the
EDM database 345 has an indicator that the document
should be encrypted. As described above, the EDM database
345 includes a list of encrypted documents in an encrypted
files table. The EDM database 345 preferably also includes
criteria for new documents which indicate whether new
documents, when the criteria are met, should be encrypted.
The criteria are preferably stored in the file administration
table described above. To perform the third test, the crypto
server 330 passes a database query to the EDM client 320 to
have the EDM server 325 query the EDM database 345. For
existing files, the query is directed to the encrypted files
table. For new files, the query is directed to the file administration table. The EDM server 325 then passes the results
of the test back to the EDM client 320, which provides the
test results to the crypto server 330.
If for any reason the document is not to be encrypted, then
the crypto server 330 passes control to the EDM client 320
which performs the "close," "save" or "save as" command
on the unencrypted document. Alternatively, the decision not
to encrypt, for one or more reasons, may result in an error
message being displayed to the user, and may result in the
document not being closed or saved. At this point, for
documents which are not to be encrypted, the method is
complete (step 445).
If, in step 430, the document is to be encrypted, then the
crypto server 330 preferably obtains an encryption key name
which is associated with the document (step 450).
The crypto server 330 then uses the encryption key name
to retrieve an encryption key value which is associated with
the encryption key name (step 455). For most encryption
algorithms, the encryption key is a multi-digit number which
is difficult to remember and even difficult to transcribe. The
encryption key name is preferably an alphanumeric descriptor which may be used by the user and/or system administrator for administering the encryption key value. Preferably,
the encryption key value is also related to the identifY of the
user, and this is accomplished by retrieving the encryption
key value from the key table stored in the smart card 265
which is associated with the relevant encryption key name.
Once the crypto server 330 has the encryption key value,
the crypto server 330 then encrypts the document with the
encryption key value (step 460), and passes control to the
EDM client (step 435) so that the document may be saved
(step 440). At this point, for documents which are to be
encrypted, the method is complete (step 445).
Turning now to FIG. 5, there is shown a flowchart of the
decryption process in accordance with the invention. After
the process begins (step 505), it is preferred that the user
submit to authentication (step 510). Authentication (step
505) preferably is the same for encryption and decryption.
At some point after the user has been authenticated, the
user will wish to open a document into the application 350
(step 515). The file open command may be issued from
within the application 350 or may be issued by a second
application, with the nature of the document such that the
application 350 will actually open the document and provide
access to the document's contents. In any case, once the user
selects a document to be opened, an "open" command is
issued (step 517). The open command is then translated into
an event (step 520), and the crypto server 330 traps this
event (step 525).

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The trapped event has the effect of alerting the crypto
server 330 that it may be necessary to decrypt the document.
However, preferably before decrypting the document, the
crypto server 330 tests whether the document should be
decrypted (step 430). Preferably, these tests are complimentary to those described above with respect to the encryption
process.
If for any reason the document is not to be decrypted, then
the crypto server 330 passes control to the EDM client 320
which perfonns the "open" command. Alternatively, the
decision not to decrypt, for one or more reasons, may result
in an error message being displayed to the user, and may
result in the document not being opened. At this point, for
documents which are not to be decrypted, the method is
complete (step 545).
If, in step 530, the document is to be decrypted, then the
crypto server 330 preferably obtains a decryption key name
which is associated with the document (step 550). The
decryption key name is preferably obtained from the file's
header or from the encyrpted files table.
The crypto server 330 then uses the decryption key name
to retrieve a decryption key value which is associated with
the decryption key name (step 555). Preferably, the decryption key value, like the encryption key value, is also related
to the identifY of the user, and this is accomplished by
retrieving the decryption key value from the key table stored
in the smart card 265 and associated with the decryption key
name.
Once the crypto server 330 has the decryption key value,
the crypto server 330 then decrypts the document with the
decryption key value (step 560), and passes control to the
EDM client (step 535) so that the decrypted copy of the
document may be opened into the application (step 540). At
this point, for documents which are to be decrypted, the
method is complete (step 545).
Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to
those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of
changes, modifications, or alterations to the invention as
described herein may be made, none of which depart from
the spirit of the present invention. All such changes, modifications and alterations should therefore be seen as within
the scope of the present invention.
What is claimed is:
1. A process of decrypting documents comprising:
providing plural documents having respective names
providing a crypto server for causing documents to be
decrypted
providing a first table having
the names of encrypted documents
for each of the names of encrypted documents in the
first table, a key name associated with a decryption
key value for the encrypted document
detecting an open command for a given document issuing
from a user of an application program using a user input
device
in response to the open command, the crypto server using
the first table to detennine if the given document should
be decrypted
if the given document should be decrypted, then
retrieving the key name associated with the name of the
given document from the first table
retrieving the decryption key value associated with the
key name from a second table, the second table
having at least one decryption key value
causing the given document to be decrypted.
2. The process of decrypting documents of claim 1 further
comprising providing an electronic document management
system comprising a SQL database, a SQL database server

and a SQL database client, wherein the electronic document
management system perfonns the detecting step.
3. The process of decrypting documents of claim 1 further
comprising
providing a database, the database including an indicator
of whether the documents should be decrypted if the
indicator in the database does not indicate that the
given document is to be decrypted, detennining that the
document should not be decrypted.
4. The process of decrypting documents of claim 1 further
comprising decrypting the given document with a DES
algorithm.
5. The process of decrypting documents of claim 1
wherein the second table is stored in a smart card.
6. A computer program product comprising a computer
usable medium having computer readable program code
embodied therein for decrypting documents, the program
code for causing a processor to
cause plural documents to be decrypted, the documents
having respective names
record in a first table
the names of the encrypted documents
for each of the names of encrypted documents in the
first table, a key name associated with a decryption
key value for the encrypted document
detect an open command for a given document issuing
from a user of an application program using a user input
device
in response to the open command use the first table to
determine if the given document should be decrypted
if the given document should be decrypted, then
retrieve the key name associated with the name of the
given document from the first table
retrieve the decryption key value associated with the
key name from a second table, the second table
having at least one decryption key value
cause the given document to be decrypted.
7. The computer program product of claim 6, the program
code further for causing the processor to decrypt the given
document with a DES algorithm.
S. A general purpose computer system comprising the
computer program product of claim 6.
9. The computer program product of claim 6, the program
code further for causing the processor to obtain decryption
key values from a portable data storage device.
10. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the
second table is stored in a smart card.
11. A computer program product comprising a computer
usable medium having computer readable program code
embodied therein for encrypting documents, the program
code for causing a processor to
cause plural documents to be encrypted, the documents
having respective names
record in a first table
the names of the encrypted documents
for each of the names of encrypted documents in the
first table, a key name associated with an encryption
key value for the encrypted document
detect a close command for a given document issuing
from a user of an application program using a user input
device
in response to the close command use the first table to
determine if the given document should be encrypted
if the given document should be encrypted, then
retrieve the key name associated with the name of the
given document from the first table

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retrieve the encryption key value associated with the
key name from a second table, the second table
having at least one encryption key value and at least
one key name respectively associated with a one of
the encryption key values
cause the given document to be encrypted.
12. The computer program product of claim 11, the
program code further for causing the processor to encrypt
the given document with a DES algorithm.

13. A general purpose computer system comprising the
computer program product of claim 11.
14. The computer program product of claim 11, the
program code further for causing the processor to obtain
encryption key values from a portable data storage device.
15. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein
the second table is stored in a smart card.

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