One of the main goals of computer and information security research is the delivery and storage of secure and verified messages. The current accepted approach to achieve this goal is “encryption followed by (digital) signature.” This paper addresses the cost of storing and delivering secure and verified messages: Can messages of different lengths be delivered or stored in a secure and authenticated manner for less money than what “signature followed by encryption” requires? Since the development of public key cryptography, it appears that this question has never been answered in the literature. Next, we provide a favorable response to the query. Specifically, we identify a new cryptography primitive called “signcryption” that satisfies the needs of public key encryption and digital signatures in a logical single step, at a cost much less than that of “signature followed by encryption.” In addition to message confidentiality, authentication, integrity, unforgeability, and non-repudiation, it provides forward secrecy for message confidentiality and public verification. Under the suggested plan, in the event of a dispute, the court might independently confirm the signer’s signature without needing the sender’s private key. Our scheme’s cheap computing and communication costs make it more suitable for usage in mobile communication environments.