Methods and systems for increasing the security of electronic messages

1. A computer program recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium included in an electronic mail security computer system for enabling increased security of e-mail messages, the computer program being comprised of instructions which, when read and executed by the electronic mail security computer system, cause the electronic mail security computer system to perform at least the following operations:

store e-mail messages, each e-mail message including a security level and control attributes assigned by the e-mail message sender;

authenticate a user in accordance with an authentication security level;

permit the user to access e-mail messages having a security level equal to or less than the authentication security level;

display each accessed e-mail message in accordance with the control attributes assigned to the accessed e-mail message; and

change, in response to sender desires, control attributes assigned to an e-mail message after the e-mail message was sent and after the sender is successfully authenticated in accordance with the authentication security level.

2. A computer program in accordance with claim 1 further comprising instructions, which when read and executed by the electronic mail security computer system, cause the electronic mail security computer system to:

identify e-mail message recipients who are not enrolled therein and activated; and

transmit a message inviting each identified recipient to enroll therein.

3. A method for increasing e-mail message security comprising:

requesting, by a user, access to an e-mail message stored in a memory, the memory stores e-mail messages, each e-mail message includes a security level and control attributes assigned by the sender;

after successfully authenticating the user in accordance with an authentication security level, permitting, by a computer processor, the user to access e-mail messages having a security level equal to or less than the authentication security level;

displaying each accessed e-mail message according to the assigned control attributes; and

changing control attributes assigned to an e-mail message after the e-mail message was sent and after the sender is successfully authenticated in accordance with the authentication security level.

4. A method for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 3 , said permitting step comprising:

permitting the user to view an e-mail message list; and

selecting, by the user, an e-mail message to access from the list.

5. A method for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 3 , further comprising:

determining that the user was not successfully authenticated within a time period preceding said requesting step;

determining the authentication security level;

determining an authentication data requirement corresponding to the authentication security level; and

capturing authentication data in accordance with the authentication data requirement and successfully authenticating the user when the captured authentication data matches user data included in a user enrollment data record.

6. A method for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 3 , further comprising:

selecting an e-mail message having a security level greater than the authentication security level;

determining an authentication data requirement corresponding to the greater security level; and

capturing authentication data in accordance with the authentication data requirement and successfully authenticating the user when the captured authentication data matches user data included in a user enrollment data record.

7. A method for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, an e-mail message, the e-mail message having recipients, a security level, control attributes, and contents;

storing the received e-mail message in the memory;

identifying recipients of the received e-mail message that are not enrolled in the memory and are not activated by the processor; and

transmitting a message inviting each identified recipient to enroll.

8. A method for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 7 , further comprising:

generating a modified e-mail message for each recipient enrolled in the memory and activated by the processor; and

transmitting each modified e-mail message to a respective recipient.

9. A computer system for increasing e-mail message security comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory operable to store e-mail messages, each e-mail message including a security level and control attributes assigned by the e-mail message sender, said computer processor being programmed to:

permit a user to access e-mail messages having a security level equal to or less than a security level for a successful authentication, after the user is successfully authenticated in accordance with an authentication security level;

display each accessed e-mail message in accordance with the control attributes assigned to the accessed e-mail message; and

change, in response to sender desires, control attributes assigned to an e-mail message after the e-mail message was sent and after the sender is successfully authenticated in accordance with the authentication security level.

10. A computer system for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 9 , said computer processor being further programmed to:

determine the user was not successfully authenticated within a time period preceding a request to access e-mail messages;

determine the authentication security level; and

determine an authentication data requirement corresponding to the authentication security level.

11. A computer system for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 9 , said computer processor being further programmed to determine the user was successfully authenticated within a time period preceding a request to access e-mail messages.

12. A computer system for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 9 , said computer processor being further programmed to:

receive e-mail messages having recipients, a security level, control attributes, and contents;

identify recipients that are not enrolled in said memory; and

transmit a message inviting each of the identified recipients to enroll in said memory.

13. A computer system for increasing e-mail message security in accordance with claim 9 , said computer processor being further programmed to:

generate a modified e-mail message for each recipient having an activated enrollment; and

transmit each modified e-mail message to a respective recipient.