There are few processes that are involved in the transaction

1. Getting a Key
2. Adding a Key to each mail that is sent
3. Verifying the Address Key of a new message.

Getting a New Address Key

Every Domain Owner publishes the Domain AS (Authentication Server) and the Port Number. This is done via the DNS Records using a TXT Type Record.

The AS can be handled by anyone on the Internet much like the DNS Server. The Domain Owner can handle the AS or it can be outsourced to one or more companies.

The email address is registered with the AS Server by the Domain Administrator and set the AVT (AuthKey Valid Time) for the Address Key. The AS generates a new Address Key when the AVT should expire and sends the new Key to the end user's email address.

When the email message with the new Key is captured by the MX server of that domain and it is identified as received from the AS server it is processed as a new address key. The Address Key is recorded in the domain SMTP Server. Future technologies can incorporate the key into the mail clients.

Adding the Address Key to each outgoing Mail

When the SMTP Server sees email from a specific email address, it adds the associated Address Key to the message header of the outgoing mail message.

Verifying the Address Key of a new message.

When the Recipient (SMTP) email Server receives the new message, it checks the header and the email address for the Address Authentication Key. It identifies the AS using the DNS Server and it sends the Verification Request to the AS. The AS replies with status.

The Mail Server Administrator can provide additional end user tools to control how the message should be handled.

The possible scenarios are as follows:

1. The AS was contacted and replied with "VALIDKEY"
   • deliver the message.
2. The AS was contacted and replied with "INVALIDKEY"
   • Accept the messages and do not mark it as Spam.
   • Accept the message and mark it as Spam.
   • Reject the message without notification to recipient or sender.
   • Reject the message without notification to recipient but with notification to sender.
   • Reject the message with notification to recipient and no notification to sender
   • Reject the message with notification to recipient and sender.

If the key does not exist or is INVALID the administrator/user can set the behavior to reject or quarantine the message.