MOBILE MESSAGE SOURCE AUTHENTICATION

A control circuit receives from a mobile receiver a request for a certificate for a particular sourcing entity and responsively transmits to that mobile receiver a corresponding certificate. The certificate includes an entity logo that corresponds to a particular message sourcing entity and decryption information. The mobile receiver can employ the decryption information to decrypt an encrypted authenticated entity digital signature to thereby authenticate that a mobile message that included the signature was sourced by a particular sourcing entity and to also display the entity logo in conjunction with presenting the message sourced by the sourcing entity to thereby provide visual confirmation that the sourcing entity is indeed an authenticated source of the message. Presentation of the entity logo can be in combination with an additional graphic feature that specifically and uniquely represents and communicates that confirmed authentication (i.e., that the displayed logo in fact corresponds to the entity th