Method and apparatus for trusted branded email
AssigneeJose J. Picazo, Jr. Separate Property Trust
InventorsHarish Seshadri, Noel Ruane
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A trusted branded email method and apparatus in one aspect detects branded electronic messages and performs validation before it is sent to a recipient. In another aspect, an electronic messages is branded by embedding branding assets and validation signatures. Algorithms that generate validation signatures are dynamically selected to further strengthen the security aspects. Branding assets are presented to a user using a distinct indicia that represents to the user that the branding assets are secure.
Claims22
A computer-implemented method of processing emails to be sent over a wide area network, each to a corresponding recipient, wherein each of the emails is to be associated with a corresponding organization of one or more organizations, the computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving the emails;
- and
- for each one of the emails,
- accessing a policy which identifies parameters associated with a branding asset to be displayed to the corresponding recipient of the one of the emails in association with the one of the emails, the branding asset being specific to the corresponding organization,
- generating at least one header corresponding to the branding asset,
- transmitting the one of the emails to the corresponding recipient with the generated at least one header;
- wherein said method further comprises for each one of the emails generating at least one digital signature dependent on the at least one header and dependent on at least other part of the one of the emails, such that the at least one digital signature is specific to the one of the emails;
- and
- wherein for each one of the emails, the at least one digital signature is specific to the corresponding organization and is adapted for use by the corresponding recipient in verifying that the at least one header complies with the parameters identified by the policy accessed for the one of the emails, and that the branding asset represented by the at least one header is specifically associated with the corresponding organization.
An apparatus comprising instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable media, the instructions to cause the processing of emails to be sent over a wide area network, each to a corresponding recipient, wherein each of the emails is to be associated with a corresponding organization of one or more organizations, the instructions when executed to cause a computer to:
- receive the emails;
- and
- for each one of the emails,
- access a policy which identifies parameters associated with a branding asset to be displayed to the corresponding recipient of the one of the emails in association with the one of the emails, the branding asset being specific to the corresponding organization,
- generate at least one header corresponding to the branding asset,
- transmit the one of the emails to the corresponding recipient with the generated at least one header;
- wherein said instructions when executed are further to cause for each one of the emails generation of at least one digital signature dependent on the at least one header and dependent on at least other part of the one of the emails, such that the at least one digital signature is specific to the one of the emails;
- and
- wherein for each one of the emails, the at least one digital signature is specific to the corresponding organization and is adapted for use by the corresponding recipient in verifying that the at least one header complies with the parameters identified by the policy accessed for the one of the emails, and that the branding asset represented by the at least one header is specifically associated with the corresponding organization.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.