Abstract

The specification discloses a system and method for authenticating a message recipient prior to transmission of a message and for authenticating the message content after receipt of the message. A randomized character or character sequence is initially enciphered at the authenticator station and stored. The enciphered character is transmitted to the message recipient. The enciphered character is deciphered by the message recipient to reproduce the randomized character. The randomized character is reenciphered by the message recipient and transmitted back to the authenticator station. The reenciphered character is deciphered and the stored randomized character is compared with the deciphered character. The message recipient is authenticated if the stored randomized character exactly compares with the deciphered character. In order to authenticate the message after receipt, polynomial block check characters are accumulated from the message. The block check characters are enciphered according to a predetermined enciphering scheme and transmitted to a remote location, along with the message. The message is received at the remote location and polynomial block check characters are accumulated in response to the received message. Enciphered block check characters are received and deciphered according to the reverse of the predetermined enciphering scheme. The accumulated block check characters are compared with the deciphered block check characters and the message is authenticated if the compared characters are the same.