Microsoft Corporation
Enhanced Email Service

Abstract:

An enhanced email service that mitigates drawbacks of conventional email services by enabling transmission of encrypted content to a recipient regardless of the recipient having a prior relationship with the sender or having credentials issued from a certificate authority. A method is provided for receiving encrypted content and generating a message includes both the encrypted content as an attachment and a link to enable access to the encrypted content. The method may include transmitting the message to an intended recipient's mailbox while also storing the message in another mailbox to provide for subsequent decryption of the encrypted content. The link may provide the intended recipient of the message with access to the encrypted content in various ways depending on, for example, whether the recipient is viewing the message through a webmail browser or through a local mail client that is compatible with the enhanced email service.