Method and apparatus for trusted branded email

• US 10,298,596 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2017
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iconix Incorporated (Matthews Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Jose J. Picazo, Jr Separate Property Trust
• Inventors: Seshadri, Harish, Ruane, Noel
• Primary Examiner(s): Waliullah, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US15/728,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20180227313A1
• Time in Patent Office: 589 Days
• Field of Search: 713176, 713170, 713181, 713160, 713161, 726 1, 726 12- 14, 726 22- 24, 709201-207, 715748, 715739, 705 51, 705 54
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/76 Proxy, i.e. using intermediary entity to perform cryptographic operations network architectures or network communication protocols using hop-by-hop encryption H04L63/0464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

A trusted branded email method and apparatus in one aspect detects branded electronic messages and performs validation before it is sent to a recipient. In another aspect, an electronic messages is branded by embedding branding assets and validation signatures. Algorithms that generate validation signatures are dynamically selected to further strengthen the security aspects. Branding assets are presented to a user using a distinct indicia that represents to the user that the branding assets are secure.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method of processing a received email, comprising:

processing headers of the received email to determine whether one or more branding asset headers are present;

processing a FROM;

header of the received email to identify a domain represented by a FROM;

header;

authenticating the one or more branding asset headers in dependence on the domain specified by the FROM;

header;

upon passage of authentication by the one or more branding asset headers, rendering a logo representing a particular brand, the logo conveyed by the one or more branding asset headers, and responsively displaying the logo in an inbox email listing of an email client in association with the received email, wherein the displaying of the logo conveys that the received email is associated with the particular brand and is secure.

2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the authenticating comprises:

extracting a first hash from a first header of the received email;

computing a second hash from the received email; and

authenticating the one or more branding asset headers if the first hash matches the second hash.

3. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the computing of the second hash comprises identifying an algorithm index corresponding to the specific domain, selecting one of a plurality of hashing algorithms according to the algorithm index, and using the selected hashing algorithm to compute the second hash.

4. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein computing the second hash comprises extracting mime body parts from the received email and hashing the extracted mime body parts to generate the second hash.

5. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the processor-implemented method is embodied in an email reader, and wherein the processor-implemented method further comprises changing a mail exchange protocol employed by the email reader to a secure hyper-text-transfer protocol for received emails wherein one or more branding asset headers are present.

6. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein processing the headers of the received email to determine whether one or more branding asset headers are present comprises determining whether a predetermined number of and predetermined types of branding asset headers are present in the received email, generating a fault if one or more branding asset headers are present in the received email but do not match at least one of the predetermined number or predetermined types, and performing the authenticating and rendering only if at least one of the predetermined number of or the predetermined types of branding asset headers are present in the received email.

7. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, conditioned upon passage of authentication by the one or more branding asset headers, rendering an audio sound representing the particular brand, according to audio information conveyed by the one or more branding asset headers.

8. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the authenticating of the one or more branding asset headers, if found to be present, in dependence on the domain specified by the FROM:

header comprises identifying a domain-specific configuration using the FROM;

header, identifying whether the received email complies with the domain-specific configuration, and generating an error if the received email does not comply with the domain-specific configuration, and wherein the rendering of the logo representing the particular brand is only performed if the received email is determined to comply with the domain-specific configuration.

9. The processor-implemented method of claim 8, wherein identifying the domain-specific configuration from the FROM:

header comprises at least one of retrieving the domain-specific policy hash from a remote source via a wide area network (WAN) or retrieving the domain-specific policy hash from a local cache, and wherein identifying whether the received email complies with the domain specific configuration comprises determining whether the received email complies with a domain-specific policy represented by the domain-specific policy hash.

10. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the processor-implemented method further comprises:

identifying a configuration of an email reader;

determining whether the configuration matches information embedded in the received email, the information identifying a configuration of an email writer used to generate the one or more branding asset headers;

if the configuration does not match the information embedded in the received email, generating an error; and

performing the rendering of the logo representing the particular brand only if the configuration matches the information embedded in the received email.

11. An apparatus for processing a received email, the apparatus comprising instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable storage media, the instructions when executed to cause at least one processor to:

process headers of the received email to determine whether one or more branding asset headers are present;

process a FROM;

header of the received email to identify a domain represented by a FROM;

header;

authenticate the one or more branding asset headers, if found to be present, in dependence on the domain specified by the FROM;

header;

upon passage of authentication by the one or more branding asset headers, render a logo representing a particular brand, the logo conveyed by the one or more branding asset headers, and responsively display the logo in an inbox email listing of an email client in association with the received email, wherein the display of the logo conveys that the received email is associated with the particular brand and is secure.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to:

extract a first hash from a first header of the received email;

compute a second hash from the received email; and

authenticate the one or more branding asset headers if the first hash matches the second hash.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to identify an algorithm index corresponding to the specific domain, select one of a plurality of hashing algorithms according to the algorithm index, and use the selected hashing algorithm to compute the second hash.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to extract mime body parts from the received email and to hash the extracted mime body parts to generate the second hash.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, embodied as an email reader, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to change a mail exchange protocol employed by the email reader to a secure hyper-text-transfer protocol for received emails wherein one or more branding asset headers are present.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to determine whether a predetermined number of and predetermined types of branding asset headers are present in the received email, to generate a fault if one or more branding asset headers are present in the received email but do not match at least one of the predetermined number or predetermined types, and to perform the authentication and rendering only if at least one of the predetermined number of or the predetermined types of branding asset headers are present in the received email.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to, conditioned upon passage of authentication by the one or more branding asset headers, render an audio sound representing the particular brand, according to audio information conveyed by the one or more branding asset headers.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to identify a domain-specific configuration using the FROM:

header, to identify whether the received email complies with the domain-specific configuration, and to generate an error if the received email does not comply with the domain-specific configuration, and wherein said apparatus is to cause the at least one processor to render the logo representing the particular brand only if the received email is determined to comply with the domain-specific configuration.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to perform at least one of retrieving the domain-specific policy hash from a remote source via a wide area network (WAN) or retrieving the domain-specific policy hash from a local cache, and wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to determine whether the received email complies with a domain-specific policy represented by the domain-specific policy hash.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed are further to cause the at least one processor to:

identify a configuration of an email reader;

determine whether the configuration matches information embedded in the received email, the information identifying a configuration of an email writer used to generate the one or more branding asset headers;

if the configuration does not match the information embedded in the received email, generate an error; and

perform the rendering of the logo representing the particular brand only if the configuration matches the information embedded in the received email.

21. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions are embodied as a plug-in/COM add-in.