Method and system for filtering communication

• US 10,581,778 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2016
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Axway Incorporated (Axway Software SA)
• Original Assignee: Axway Incorporated (Axway Software SA)
• Inventors: Bandini, Jean-Christophe, Odnert, Daryl, Dolinsky, Dmitry
• Primary Examiner(s): Callahan, Paul E
• Application Number:
  US15/262,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20170070461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/14 for detecting or protecting against malicious traffic

Abstract

An e-mail relay provides message filtering services to an e-mail network. The e-mail relay monitors incoming communication and intercepts e-mail messages. The e-mail relay compares attributes of the messages to data derived from SPAM messages, which are stored in a SPAM database. The e-mail relay restricts the delivery of messages based on the comparison such as by restricting the delivery of messages having attributes close to those of SPAM messages from the SPAM database. The SPAM database is constructed by responding to user or administrator indications as to whether received messages are SPAM messages.

Claims

1. A method of reducing a flow of unwanted electronic messages, the method comprising:

receiving, by a relay, a first electronic message associated with a first e-mail forwarding address and a second electronic message associated with a second e-mail forwarding address, a destination field of the first electronic message specifying a first recipient, and a destination field of the second electronic message specifying a second recipient;

supplying, by the relay, the first electronic message to the first recipient and the second electronic message to the second recipient;

after supplying the first and second electronic messages, receiving, by the relay, a third electronic message by the first e-mail forwarding address from the first recipient and a fourth electronic message by the second e-mail forwarding address from the second recipient;

classifying, based on receiving the third electronic message by the first e-mail forwarding address, the first electronic message as belonging to a first category of unwanted messages that has been determined to be unwanted by the first recipient;

classifying, based on receiving the fourth electronic message by the second e-mail forwarding address, the second electronic message as belonging to a second category of unwanted messages that has been determined to be unwanted by the second recipient, the first category being different from the second category; and

storing information corresponding to the first electronic message belonging to the first category and the second electronic message belonging to the second category into a message database that codes attributes and derived information characteristic of messages that have been determined to be unwanted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each forwarding address of a plurality of forwarding addresses classifies an electronic message according to at least one of a plurality of pre-established categories.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each forwarding address of a plurality of forwarding addresses includes a local part and a domain name.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each forwarding address of the plurality has a different local part.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each local part of a forwarding address classifies an electronic message according to at least one of a plurality of pre-established categories.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after storing the information into the message database, comparing attributes of a fifth electronic message of the electronic messages to attributes of messages in the message database; and

classifying the fifth electronic message as belonging to the first category if the first and fifth electronic messages have at least a threshold number of common attributes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message database stores information associated with electronic messages previously transmitted to the relay and previously flagged as unwanted messages.

8. A system for reducing a flow of unwanted electronic messages, the system comprising:

a message database, comprising a memory, that codes attributes and derived information characteristic of electronic messages that have been determined to be unwanted; and

a relay that receives a first electronic message associated with a first e-mail forwarding address and receives a second electronic message associated with a second e-mail forward address, wherein a destination field of the first electronic message specifies a first recipient, and a destination field of the second electronic message specifies a second recipient,

wherein the relay supplies the first electronic message to the first recipient and the second electronic message to the second recipient, and wherein after the relay supplies the first and second electronic messages, the relay receives a third electronic message by the first e-mail forwarding address from the first recipient and a fourth electronic message by the second e-mail forwarding address from the second recipient,

wherein the relay classifies, based on receiving the third electronic message by the first e-mail forwarding address, the first electronic message as belonging to a first category of unwanted messages that has been determined to be unwanted by the first recipient,

wherein the relay classifies, based on receiving the fourth electronic message by the second e-mail forwarding address, the second electronic message as belonging to a second category of unwanted messages that has been determined to be unwanted by the second recipient, wherein the first category is different from the second category,

and wherein the relay stores information corresponding to the first electronic message belonging to the first category and the second electronic message belonging to the second category into the message database.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each forwarding address of a plurality of forwarding addresses classifies an electronic message according to at least one of a plurality of pre-established categories.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein each forwarding address of a plurality of forwarding addresses includes a local part and a domain name.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each forwarding address of the plurality has a different local part.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each local part of a forwarding address classifies an electronic message according to at least one of a plurality of pre-established categories.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein after the relay stores the information into the message database, the relay compares attributes of a fifth electronic message of the electronic messages to attributes of messages in the message database, and wherein the relay classifies the fifth electronic message as belonging to the first category if the first and fifth electronic messages have at least a threshold number of common attributes.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the message database stores information associated with electronic messages previously transmitted to the relay and previously flagged as unwanted messages.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the relay quarantines the third and fourth electronic messages.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein an administrator associated with the relay reviews quarantined messages for classifying messages as either unwanted or clean, and the relay stores the classification information into the message database.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the third electronic message is received based on the first recipient forwarding the first electronic message to the first e-mail forwarding address.

18. The system of claim 8, wherein a destination field of the third electronic message includes the first e-mail forwarding address, and a destination field of the fourth electronic message includes the second e-mail forwarding address.