Authenticating and confidence marking e-mail messages
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method of authenticating an e-mail message, comprising:
- extracting a plurality of e-mail headers associated with said e-mail message;
from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a sending edge mail transfer agent (MTA), wherein identifying the sending edge MTA comprises examining individual ones of the extracted plurality of headers to identify MTAs associated with a sending domain, and to identify a specific one of the MTAs associated with the sending domain as the sending edge MTA;
from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a specific sender of the e-mail message;
determining from at least one computer-accessible record whether said sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send said e-mail messages on behalf of the specific sender; and
authenticating said email message if the computer-accessible record indicates that the sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send email messages on behalf of the specific sender.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for authenticating and confidence marking e-mail messages are described. One embodiment describes a method of authenticating an e-mail message. This method involves extracting a plurality of e-mail headers associated with the e-mail message, and identifying a sending edge mail transfer agent (MTA). The method then calls for determining if the sending edge MTA is authorized to send the e-mail message.
29 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of authenticating an e-mail message, comprising:
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extracting a plurality of e-mail headers associated with said e-mail message; from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a sending edge mail transfer agent (MTA), wherein identifying the sending edge MTA comprises examining individual ones of the extracted plurality of headers to identify MTAs associated with a sending domain, and to identify a specific one of the MTAs associated with the sending domain as the sending edge MTA; from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a specific sender of the e-mail message; determining from at least one computer-accessible record whether said sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send said e-mail messages on behalf of the specific sender; and authenticating said email message if the computer-accessible record indicates that the sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send email messages on behalf of the specific sender. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of authenticating an e-mail message, comprising:
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receiving an authentication request comprising a plurality of headers associated with said email message and extracting said plurality of headers from the authentication request; from the extracted plurality of headers, identifying an edge mail transfer agent (MTA) associated with a sending domain of said e-mail message, wherein identifying the edge MTA comprises examining ones of the extracted plurality of headers to identify MTAs associated with the sending domain, and identifying a specific one of the MTAs associated with the sending domain as the edge MTA; determining from at least one computer-accessible record whether said edge MTA, specifically, is authorized to send email messages on behalf of a specified sender associated with said email message; and generating an authentication response dependent on whether said edge MTA, specifically, is authorized to send email messages on behalf of the specific sender. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps, the steps comprising:
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extracting a plurality of e-mail headers associated with said e-mail message; from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a sending edge mail transfer agent (MTA), wherein identifying the sending edge MTA comprises examining individual ones of the extracted plurality of headers to identify MTAs associated with a sending domain, and to identify a specific one of the MTAs associated with the sending domain as the sending edge MTA; from the extracted plurality of email headers, identifying a specific sender of the e-mail message; determining from at least one computer-accessible record whether said sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send said e-mail messages on behalf of the specific sender; and authenticating said email message if the computer-accessible record indicates that the sending edge MTA is specifically identified as authorized to send email messages on behalf of the specific sender. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An apparatus comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps, the steps comprising:
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receiving an authentication request comprising a plurality of headers associated with said in email message and extracting said plurality of headers from the authentication request; from the extracted plurality of headers, identifying an edge mail transfer agent (MTA) associated with a sending domain of said e-mail message, wherein identifying the edge MTA comprises examining ones of the extracted plurality of headers to identify MTAs associated with the sending domain, and identifying a specific one of the MTAs associated with the sending domain as the edge MTA; determining from at least one computer-accessible record whether said edge MTA, specifically, is authorized to send email messages on behalf of at least one of the sending domain or a specified sender associated with said email message; and generating an authentication response dependent on whether said edge MTA, specifically, is authorized to send email messages on behalf of the specific sender. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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Specification