Method of, and system for, processing email in particular to detect unsolicited bulk email
First Claim
1. A method of processing email which comprises monitoring email traffic passing through one or more nodes of a network for patterns of email traffic which are indicative of, or suggestive of, a mailshot of unsolicited or unwanted email and, once such a pattern is detected, initiating automatic remedial action, alerting an operator, or both.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In order to alleviate problems caused by delivery of unwanted or unsolicited email (spam), email traffic is analysed for patterns of traffic which indicate or suggest that the emails are spam; when the system detects a pattern it thinks is spam it can take remedial action, e.g. blocking delivery of the emails involved, either itself or to a human operator. Analysis of email takes place by scanning a database of data abstracted from emails. These data are primarily abstracted from the emails when regarded as “containers” (i.e. without reference to the message contents).
164 Citations
14 Claims
- 1. A method of processing email which comprises monitoring email traffic passing through one or more nodes of a network for patterns of email traffic which are indicative of, or suggestive of, a mailshot of unsolicited or unwanted email and, once such a pattern is detected, initiating automatic remedial action, alerting an operator, or both.
- 8. A system for processing email which comprises means for monitoring email traffic passing through one or more nodes of a network for patterns of email traffic which are indicative of, or suggestive of, a mailshot of unsolicited or unwanted email and once such a pattern is detected, initiating automatic remedial action, alerting an operator, or both.
Specification