The invention provides a virtual subscriber identifier
system and method of a communication network. According to one embodiment of the invention, a subscriber generates virtual subscriber identifiers by him / her self, generates a subscriber
identity mapping data by which a identifier
service provider can figure out the real identifier of the owner of the virtual subscriber identifier, and informs peers of the virtual subscriber identifiers. The subscriber identify mapping data may be a data in which a virtual subscriber identifier is associated to the real identifier of the subscriber, and be registered by the subscriber with the identifier
service provider. A peer generates a communicating request including a virtual subscriber identifier as target, and sends the request to the identifier
service provider, the identifier service provider determines the real identifier of the subscriber from the subscriber
identity mapping data, and forwards the communication between the peer and the subscriber's terminal. In another embodiment, the subscriber
identity mapping data may be a secret data of the subscriber, by which the virtual subscriber identifier can figure out the real identifier of the subscriber. When receiving the communication request, the identifier service provider decrypts the real identifier of the owner of the virtual subscriber identifier from the secret data received from the peer. In one embodiment, the virtual subscriber identifier is generated from the public key of the subscriber. The virtual subscriber identifier may be equipped with a
certificate, or be associated with a magic word. With the invention, the use of the virtual subscriber identifiers is more flexible to the
system and versatile to the subscriber.