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AssigneeEngate Technology Corporation
InventorsRichard Paul White, Alan Huang, Haw-minn Lu, Ira Victor Spivack
Estimating the term…
The spam blocker monitors the SMTP/TCP/IP conversation between a sending message transfer agent MTA—0 and a receiving message transfer agent MTA—1; catches MTA—0's IP address IP—0, MTA—0's declared domain D—0, from-address A—0; and to-address A—1; and uses this source and content based information to test for unsolicited messages. It interrupts the conversation when MTA—0 sends a command_specifying the recipient (an “RCPT” command) and uses the various test results to decide if the message is suspected of being unsolicited. If the message is suspected of being unsolicited then it logs the rejected message, sends an error reply to MTA—0 which forces MTA—0 to terminate the connection with MTA—1 before the body of the message is transmitted; else it logs the allowed message, releases the intercepted RCPT command which allows the conversation between MTA—0 and MTA—1 to proceed.
A method for determining if an e-mail message from a transmitting message transfer agent is unsolicited, the transmitting message transfer agent having an actual domain and the e-mail message comprising a from-address having a domain, the method comprising the steps of:
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the transmitting message transfer agent is in an allow address database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the transmitting message transfer agent is in a prevent address database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the transmitting message transfer agent is in an open relay database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if an Internet Protocol address of the transmitting message transfer agent has a domain name entry in a domain name server (DNS) database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if the from-address of the e-mail message is in a bad from database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if the from-address of the e-mail message matches a to-address of the e-mail message.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if a to-address of the e-mail message is in a no filter database.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if a to-address of the e-mail message is in a yes filter database.
The method of 2, wherein the receiving message transfer agent has a domain (D_1), and wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if a declared domain of the transmitting message transfer agent is the same as D_1.
The method of 2, wherein the e-mail message is determined not to be unsolicited by checking if a declared domain of the transmitting message transfer agent does not match the actual domain and the declared domain is in the suspect domain database.
The method of 2, further comprising:
The method of 2, further comprising:
The method of 2, wherein in the error reply is a 550 error reply in accordance with the Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
An unsolicited message rejecting communications system for analyzing an electronic mail message purportedly sent from-address A_0 and to to-address A_1 to be communicated from a message transfer agent MTA_0 having an actual domain DD_0 to a message transfer agent MTA_1, said system comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.