The present invention is directed to computer viruses and more particularly to
a method and system for use in a virus-free certificate firewall, of controlling
and filtering files using a virus-free certificate. An example embodiment of the
method comprises the steps of: receiving a file; if a virus-free certificate (200)
is required for the file: determining whether the a virus-free certificate is already
associated with the file; if a virus-free certificate is already associated with
the file: authenticating the associated virus-free certificate, said virus-free
certificate comprising a certificate signature; if the virus-free certificate is
authenticated, determining whether the file is virus-free or not; if the file is
virus-free, forwarding the file with the associated virus-free certificate; if
the virus-free certificate is not authenticated or if no virus-free, certificate
is associated with the file; determining whether the file is virus-free or not,
if the file is virus-free, associating with the file a new virus-free certificate;
and forwarding the file with the new virus-free certificate.