Secure communications service for intercepting suspicious messages and performing backchannel verification thereon

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising memory with instructions encoded thereon that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations, the instructions comprising instructions to:

• detect an electronic communication comprising an identifier of a purported originator and an identifier of an intended recipient;
• intercept the electronic communication and storing the electronic communication in purgatory memory, so as to prevent the electronic communication from being populated in a private repository of the intended recipient;
• determine a challenge recipient, the challenge recipient selected as one candidate recipient from a group of candidate challenge recipients based on content of the electronic communication, the group of candidate challenge recipients comprising the intended recipient and a trusted identifier of the purported originator;
• and
• transmit a challenge to the challenge recipient;
• receive an indication that the challenge recipient has successfully verified the challenge;
• and
• release the electronic communication from the purgatory memory, so as to cause the electronic communication to be populated in the private repository of the intended recipient.

A system comprising:

• memory with instructions encoded thereon;
• and
• one or more processors that, when executing the instructions, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
• detecting an electronic communication comprising an identifier of a purported originator and an identifier of an intended recipient;
• intercepting the electronic communication and storing the electronic communication in purgatory memory, so as to prevent the electronic communication from being populated in a private repository of the intended recipient;
• determining a challenge recipient, the challenge recipient selected as one candidate recipient from a group of candidate challenge recipients based on content of the electronic communication, the group of candidate challenge recipients comprising the intended recipient and a trusted identifier of the purported originator;
• and
• transmitting a challenge to the challenge recipient;
• receiving an indication that the challenge recipient has successfully verified the challenge;
• and
• releasing the electronic communication from the purgatory memory, so as to cause the electronic communication to be populated in the private repository of the intended recipient.