Encoding data in message headers
AssigneeMimecast Services Ltd.
InventorsSimon Paul Tyler, Jackie Anne Maylor, Carlos da Silva, Nathaniel S. Borenstein
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Among other things, we describe techniques for carrying encoded data in a header field of an email message wherein the encoded data is homomorphically encrypted such that the encoded data is only interpretable by one or more authorized recipients and operable by any recipient. A recipient of such an email message (which may be the sender or another recipient) can derive an action to be carried out from the homomorphically-encrypted encoded data.
Claims20
A computer implemented method for archive-less messaging, the method comprising:
- at a first electronic communication system, transmitting via a communication system a first email message that includes a Message-ID field including encoded data relating to information in the first email message, wherein the encoded data stores a result of a security or threat assessment performed on the information by the first electronic communication system;
- and
- at a second electronic communication system, receiving via the communication system a second email message that includes an In-Reply-To field containing the encoded data from the first email message including the result of the security or threat assessment such that the result of the security or threat assessment is persisted across the communication system and the second electronic communication system has the result of the security or threat assessment without needing to repeat the action on the information and without the result being stored in a separate archive.
An electronic communication system for archive-less messaging, the system comprising:
- one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform processes comprising:
- at a first electronic communication system, transmitting via a communication system a first email message that includes a Message-ID field including encoded data relating to information in the first email message, wherein the encoded data stores a result of a security or threat assessment performed on the information by the first electronic communication system;
- and
- at a second electronic communication system, receiving via the communication system a second email message that includes an In-Reply-To field containing the encoded data from the first email message including the result of the security or threat assessment such that the result of the security or threat assessment is persisted across the communication system and the second electronic communication system has the result of the security or threat assessment without needing to repeat the action on the information and without the result being stored in a separate archive.
A computer program product comprising at least one tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied therein computer program instructions for archive-less messaging which, when executed on at least one processor of an electronic communication system, performs processes comprising:
- transmitting via a communication system a first email message that includes a Message-ID field including encoded data relating to information in the first email message, wherein the encoded data stores a result of a security or threat assessment performed on the information by the electronic communication system;
- and
- receiving from a second electronic communication system via the communication system a second email message that includes an In-Reply-To field containing encoded data including a result of a security or threat assessment performed on information in the second email message, wherein the results of the security or threat assessments are persisted across the communication system and the electronic communication system has the result of the security or threat assessment performed on the information in the second email message without needing to repeat the action on the information and without the result being stored in a separate archive.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.