Systems and methods for automated whitelisting in monitored communications
OwnerPaul Judge, Guru Rajaninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for detecting and preventing the delivery of unsolicited communications. A communication transmitted over a communications network is received and analyzed by a system processor. The system processor can extract attributes from the communication and compare extracted attributes to information stored in a system data store. In processing the communication, the system processor may assign a confidence level, a trust level, or other indicia of content. The results of that processing, analysis, and comparison can be used to direct the further handling of the communication. The system processor can dispose of communications by quarantining, deleting, or forwarding.
Claims31
A system for detecting an unsolicited communication transmitted over a communications network, the system comprising:
- a) an interface coupling the system with the communications network;
- b) a system data store capable of storing data associated with communications transmitted over the communications network and one or more whitelists;
- c) a system processor in communication with the interface and the system data store, wherein the system processor comprises one or more processing elements and wherein the system processor:
- 1) receive a communication via the interface;
- 2) compares the communication to at least one whitelist;
- and
- 3) modifies at least one whitelist based on the communication.
A method for detecting an unsolicited communication transmitted over a communications network, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing an interface for manually modifying at least one whitelist;
- b) receiving an outbound communication of a type selected from the group consisting of an e-mail communication, an HTTP communication, an FTP communication, a WAIS communication, a telnet communication and a Gopher communication;
- c) storing the received outbound communication;
- and
- d) modifying the at least one whitelist by adding or modifying an entry on the at least one white list based upon a destination of the received outbound communication.
A system for detecting an unsolicited communication transmitted over a communications network, the system comprising:
- a) means for receiving an electronic communication;
- b) direction determination means for determining if the received electronic communication is inbound or outbound;
- c) whitelist modification means for updating at least one whitelist based upon a received communication determined to be outbound by the direction determination means by adding an entry or updating an existing entry in the at least one whitelist based upon the received communication;
- and
- d) communication disposition means for disposing of a received communication determined to be inbound by the direction determination means by:
- 1) comparing the received inbound communication to the at least one whitelist;
- 2) selecting a plurality of trust level tests based on a type associated with the received inbound communication, configuration information, the whilelist comparison or combinations thereof;
- 3) assigning a confidence level to the communication based upon the determined deliverability;
- and
- 4) quarantining, discarding, or forwarding the received communication based on the assigned confidence level.
Computer readable media storing instruction that upon execution by a system processor cause the system processor to automatically generate a whitelist based upon received outbound communication by performing the steps comprising of:
- a) providing an interface for manually modifying at least one whitelist;
- b) receiving an outbound communication of a type selected from the group consisting of an e-mail communication, an HTTP communication, an FTP communication, a WAIS communication, a telnet communication and a Gopher communication;
- c) storing the received outbound communication;
- and
- d) modifying the at least one whitelist by adding or modifying an entry on the at least one white list based upon a destination of the received outbound communication.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.