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US 2003/0191969 A1Published application
System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
OwnerPeter L. Katsikasinventor
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OwnerPeter L. Katsikasinventor
Estimating the term…
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network analyzes the sender address of incoming email and determines whether it is to be rejected by returning a standard “no such user” error code or accepted depending upon executing processing rules and analyzing managed lists of authorized senders. This provides an advantage over existing anti-spam filtering systems by intercepting unauthorized email before it reaches an existing email server or client. The system rejects all email unless authorized by using a standard “no such user” error code, and by redirecting the unauthorized email back to the sender or to a sender evaluation site. An ASL module captures authorized sender addresses from the user's outgoing email and other sources in order to update “authorized senders” lists. The system may employ a WBM procedure that notifies senders of rejected email to go to a separate website and register as valid senders after passing an interaction test that precludes automatic registration by a mechanical program. A destination proxy email address procedure allows subscribers to use temporary proxy addresses for receiving email expected from unknown sources and instantiates senders as authorized upon receiving the expected email to the proxy addresses. The unauthorized-email rejection component can be readily configured as a hardware or software appliance used in tandem with a conventional email server, email gateway, or firewall to an intranet, or as a software extension to an existing firewall system.
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A method for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising the steps of:
A method for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising the steps of:
A method for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising the steps of:
A method for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising the steps of:
A method for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising the steps of:
An unauthorized-email rejection component for use with an email-receiving server for receiving email sent to a user on a network comprising an authorized senders list (ASL) module which maintains an ASL list of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, wherein said unauthorized-email rejection component intercepts and rejects any incoming email addressed to the email address of the user if the processing results of the ASL list returns with an “unauthorized sender” result, wherein the unauthorized-email rejection component is a hardware or software appliance positioned for operation in the flow of incoming email physically or logically upstream from the email-receiving server to prevent any unauthorized email from reaching the email-receiving server.
An unauthorized-email rejection component for use with an email-receiving server for receiving email sent to a user on a network comprising an authorized senders list (ASL) module which maintains an ASL list of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, wherein said unauthorized-email rejection component intercepts and rejects any incoming email addressed to the email address of the user if the processing results of the ASL list returns with an “unauthorized sender” result, wherein the ASL module includes an ASL list manager for analyzing email header information including FROM and TO addresses of email sent by users to dynamically update the ASL lists of authorized senders.
An unauthorized-email rejection component for use with an email-receiving server for receiving email sent to a user on a network comprising an authorized senders list (ASL) module which maintains an ASL list of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, wherein said unauthorized-email rejection component intercepts and rejects any incoming email addressed to the email address of the user if the processing results of the ASL list returns with an “unauthorized sender” result, and further including a proxy address module for allowing a user to designate a destination proxy email address for use by a sender in instances where the email address of an authorized sender is not yet known, and if the destination proxy email address is used on incoming email, for accepting the incoming email and sending it to the user.
An unauthorized-email rejection component for use with an email-receiving server for receiving email sent to a user on a network comprising an authorized senders list (ASL) module which maintains an ASL list of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, wherein said unauthorized-email rejection component intercepts and rejects any incoming email addressed to the email address of the user if the processing results of the ASL list returns with an “unauthorized sender” result, and further including a redirector module for sending a message inviting the sender of the rejected email to confirm that the sender is an authorized sender of email to the intended recipient by passing an interaction procedure to show that the sender is not a mechanical program attempting to automatically validate the sender, whereupon the validated sender's email address can be added to the ASL list.
An unauthorized-email rejection component for use with an email-receiving server for receiving email sent to a user on a network comprising an authorized senders list (ASL) module which maintains an ASL list of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, wherein said unauthorized-email rejection component intercepts and rejects any incoming email addressed to the email address of the user if the processing results of the ASL list returns with an “unauthorized sender” result and returns an industry standard “no such user” error code before the email can be accepted for delivery to the user.
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
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Monitoring or handling of messages: using filtering or selective blocking
Office automation; Time management: computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
Filtering policies: filtering by information in the payload
For separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls: proxies
Term end not estimated
This invention relates to a system for eliminating unwanted email, and particularly to one in which all email must be recognized as sent by an authorized sender in order to be accepted.
Unwanted or unauthorized email is a significant bane for users on worldwide networks, such as the current public Internet. Once a person's email address becomes known in a network system, it can easily be replicated in computerized lists and passed on electronically to an unlimited number of parties who have not been authorized or invited to send email to the user. A user's electronic mailbox can become inundated with such unauthorized email. Unauthorized or unwanted email is referred to generically in the industry by the term “spam”, although the term is not intended to be associated with or to disparage the popular canned meat product sold under the trademark “Spam” by Hormel Corp. The user may have an email address with a commercial information service provider (ISP) service which limits the amount of email that can be accepted and/or stored or which charges the user by the volume received. The user may also waste a significant amount of time opening and reviewing such unwanted email. Unauthorized email may also be sent by unscrupulous persons who may enclose a virus or noxious software agent in the email which can infect the user's computer system, or which can be used as an unauthorized point of entry into a local network system that handles the user's email.
Most, if not all, of the current software to control the receipt of spam is based upon the use of identifying lists of known spam sources or senders (“spammers”). Such conventional spam control software functions on the basis of receiving all email as authorized unless a sender is identified as being on the exclusion list and the email can be filtered out. This approach is only as good as the identifying list and cannot guarantee that the user will not receive spam. Spammer lists require frequent updating and must be distributed in a timely manner to all subscribers to the spam control software or service. Sophisticated spammers frequently change their source Internet address, and can defeat attempts to keep exclusion lists current. They can also route the unwanted email through the Internet servers of other parties so as to disguise the source of the emails through innocuous or popularly recognized names. A user's email address may also become known to large numbers of individuals in public chat rooms or on public bulletin boards. Unwanted email sent by individuals are not tracked on spammer lists, because the sending of email by individuals is technically not spamming.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a standard Internet email system using the conventional method for filtering email from spammers (Prior Art), as compared to FIG. 1B which shows a conceptual overview of a system in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram for a preferred embodiment of the anti-spam system of the present invention.
FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a standard SMTP send email process (Prior Art), as compared to FIG. 3B which shows a modified send email process used in the present invention.
In contrast to the known approaches of existing spam control methods of accepting all email unless listed on an exclusion list as unauthorized, the fundamental principle of the present invention is to reject all email unless the rules processing returns a favorable response. In this manner, it is possible to filter out email that comes from unrecognized spammers as well as individuals who send email that is uninvited by the user. Unlike the known email filtering systems, the present invention does not attempt to filter out the unwanted email after it has been accepted. Rather, it outright rejects the email at the earliest entry level by returning a server-level “no such user” error message to the device that is transmitting the sender's email. Thus, the invention operates on the premise that all email will be preprocessed according to pre-set rules before the validity of the recipient's (user) email address will even be accepted as correct. This provides an inherently powerful and 100% effective spam control solution in an environment where spammers can instantaneously change their source address or apparent identity and individuals in public areas can obtain email addresses of other users and send them unwanted email.
The following is a detailed description of one preferred embodiment of a system for implementing the invention concept. In this embodiment, the spam control system intelligently formulates the “authorized senders” rules list based upon user-defined actions previously stored in the email proxy preprocessor, an ongoing analysis of the user's email usage, such as to whom and with what frequency sent email is addressed to other users, and through the gathering of high-level user contact data, such as a user's known contacts and associates identified on other lists or files maintained by the user which indicate persons considered as authorized. The “authorized senders” rules list may also be updated and manipulated by the user at any time to add or remove authorized senders and/or associated processing rules. While this specific implementation is used, and certain components are provided and configured to be interoperable in the described ways, it is to be understood that the full scope of the invention is deemed to encompass many other suitable modifications and variations to the described guiding principles of the invention.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a standard email system for sending and receiving email on the Internet and is used to explain the conventional method for filtering out email from spammers. The system follows a standard industry protocol for handling email on the Internet, referred to as SMTP. Users typically subscribe with a chosen ISP for Internet access and related services, including email services. The users access the Internet through the ISP using a dialup or high-speed line connection and a standard browser. The browser includes or functions with a standard email client 101, such as the Outlook TM email client distributed by Microsoft Corp., headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., or the Netscape™ email client used by AOL Online, Fairfield, Va. The ISP operates at a website address corresponding to its domain name which is addressable by users on the Internet. The ISP's service functions are performed for a large number of subscribers through one or more servers. Typically, an email server 102 is used to handle the email service functions. Email sent to the ISP from the Internet is received at SMTP Server 104, where various administrative functions are performed, such as checking whether the addressee is an authorized subscriber of the ISP, then the email is placed in a storage space reserved for that user, referred to as Inbox 103. When users connect to the ISP, they can retrieve their email and store it with their own email client (on their own computer). Users can send email by composing it locally at their email client, then uploading it to the SMTP Server 105 at the ISP, which then routes it to the recipient's email address on the Internet.