Method and apparatus for controlling unsolicited messaging in real time messaging networks

• US 20050201363A1
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Published: 09/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wellington Financial LP (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce), WatchGuard Technologies Incorporated (Gladiator Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Borderware Technologies Incorporated (Gladiator Corporation)
• Inventors: Gilchrist, Rod, Alsop, John, Fogel, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,923 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

A Voice over IP (VoIP) or Real Time Messaging (RTM) firewall device is claimed that protects VoIP or RTM network traffic by identifying and controlling the delivery of such network traffic that is unsolicited and undesired by the recipient (i.e. VoIP or RTM spam). The system involves applying a unique marking to RTM messages close to a point of message origination and then at a point close to message termination for the intended recipient examining a reputation store for information on the unique marking and using that information in conjunction with a set of policy rules to decide whether to pass, reject, pass on to an RTM store or otherwise filter the RTM message. The unique marking serves to identify a source characteristic of the message such as the message originator, a corporate affiliation for the originator, or a RTM network characteristic of the originator such as a transmission gateway.

Claims

1. A method for controlling unsolicited messaging in a real time messaging (RTM) network, the method comprising:

receiving a call initiation request from a first terminal device coupled to the RTM network;

marking the call initiation request on behalf of the first terminal device to identify an origination characteristic of the initiation request, generating a marked call initiation request; and

transmitting the marked call initiation request on the RTM network for delivery to one or more second terminal devices coupled to the RTM network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking comprises applying a digital signature to the call initiation request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the applying a digital signature to the call initiation request comprises:

creating a message digest of the call initiation request;

applying a private key of a public/private key pair to the message digest to generate the digital signature; and

providing a public key of the public/private key pair for verifying the digital signature.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking comprises applying an originating internet protocol (IP) address to the call initiation request or portions of the call initiation request.

5. The method of claim 4, where a set of legitimate originating IP addresses are provided via a publicly available IP address store.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking comprises encrypting the call initiation request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the encrypting the call initiation request comprises:

applying a private key of a public/private key pair to the call initiation request to encrypt the call initiation request for transmitting; and

providing a public key of the public/private key pair for decrypting and verifying the call initiation request.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the providing a public key comprises providing the public key to a public key store for electronic retrieval.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the origination characteristic identifies at least one of an entity associated with the call initiation requests, a message originator originating the call initiation requests, and an affiliation of the message originator.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the RTM network is configured to provide at least one of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, instant messaging (IM) services, and video conferencing services.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying the marked call initiation request on behalf of at least one of the second terminal devices to determine the origination characteristics of the marked call initiation request;

determining a delivery action in response to the verifying; and

delivering the marked call initiation request in accordance with the delivery action.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining a reputation associated with the call initiation request in response to the origination characteristic and wherein the determining a delivery action is responsive to the reputation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining a respective reputation comprises retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information in response to the origination characteristic.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining a delivery action comprises applying a policy in response to the reputation, the policy defining rules for directing a delivery of the call initiation request.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the delivery action comprises at least one of completing the delivery of the call initiation request, rejecting the delivery of the call initiation request, and filtering the call initiation request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the filtering the call initiation request comprises at least one of interacting with the first terminal device of the call initiation request and taking a message from the first terminal device.

17. A method for controlling unsolicited messaging in a real time messaging (RTM) network, the method comprising:

verifying an origination of a call initiation request on behalf of a first terminal device, the

verifying being performed at least in part using marks included in the call initiation request that identifies an origination characteristic of the call initiation request;

determining a delivery action in response to the verifying; and

delivering the call initiation requests in accordance with the delivery action.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the verifying is performed at least in part by verifying a digital signature associated with at least a portion of the call initiation request.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the verifying is performed at least in part by verifying an originating internet protocol (IP) address.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the verifying is performed at least in part by verifying an encrypted call initiation request or encrypted portion thereof.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the origination identifies at least one of an entity associated with the marking of the call initiation requests, a message originator originating the call initiation requests, and an affiliation of the message originator.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the verifying comprises using a public key to validate a digital signature.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining includes determining a reputation associated with the origination and wherein the determining a delivery action is responsive to the reputation.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining a reputation comprises retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information associated with the origination or marking of the call initiation.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining a reputation comprises retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information associated with the call initiation request.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining a delivery action comprises applying a policy in response to the reputation, the policy defining rules for directing a delivery of the call initiation request.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the delivery action comprises at least one of completing the delivery of the call initiation request, rejecting the delivery of the call initiation request, and filtering the call initiation request.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the filtering the call initiation request comprises at least one of interacting with a second terminal device associated with the call initiation request;

and taking a message from the second terminal device, wherein the second terminal device is associated with the origination of the call initiation request.

29. The method of claim 17, wherein the RTM network is configured to provide at least one of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, instant messaging (IM) services, and video conferencing services.

30. A computer program product for controlling unsolicited messaging in a real time messaging (RTM) network, the computer program product having a medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising:

computer program code for receiving a call initiation request from a first terminal device coupled to the RTM network;

computer program code for marking the call initiation request on behalf of the first terminal device to identify an origination characteristic of the call initiation request, thereby generating a marked call initiation request; and

computer program code for transmitting the marked call initiation request on the RTM network for delivery to one or more second terminal devices coupled to the RTM network.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the computer program code for marking comprises computer program code for applying a digital signature to the call initiation request.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the computer program code for applying a digital signature to the call initiation request comprises:

computer program code for creating a message digest of the call initiation request;

computer program code for applying a private key of a public/private key pair to the message digest to generate the digital signature; and

computer program code for providing a public key of the public/private key pair for verifying the digital signature.

33. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the computer program code for marking comprises computer program code for applying an originating internet protocol (IP) address to the call initiation request or portions of the call initiation request.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, where a set of legitimate originating IP addresses are provided via a publicly available IP address store.

35. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the computer program code for marking comprises computer program code for encrypting the call initiation request.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the computer program code for encrypting the call initiation request comprises:

computer program code for applying a private key of a public/private key pair to the call initiation request to encrypt the call initiation request for transmitting; and

computer program code for providing a public key of the public/private key pair for decrypting and verifying the call initiation request.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the computer program code for providing a public key comprises computer program code for providing the public key to a public key store for electronic retrieval.

38. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the origination characteristic identifies at least one of an entity associated with the call initiation request, a message originator originating the call initiation request, and an affiliation of the message originator.

39. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the RTM network is configured to provide at least one of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, instant messaging (IM) services, and video conferencing services.

40. The computer program product of claim 30, further comprising:

computer program code for verifying the marked call initiation request on behalf of at least one of the second terminal devices to determine the origination characteristic of the marked call initiation request;

computer program code for determining a delivery action in accordance with the verifying; and

computer program code for delivering the marked call initiation request in response to the delivery action.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, further comprising computer program code for determining a reputation associated with the call initiation request in response to the origination characteristic and wherein the computer program code for determining a delivery action is responsive to the reputation.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the computer program code for determining a reputation comprises computer program code for retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information in response to the origination characteristic.

43. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the computer program code for determining a delivery action comprises computer program code for applying a policy in response to the reputation, the policy defining rules for directing a delivery of the call initiation request.

44. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the delivery action comprises at least one of completing the delivery of the call initiation request, rejecting the delivery of the call initiation request, and filtering the call initiation request.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the filtering the call initiation request comprises at least one of interacting with the first terminal device of the call initiation request and taking a message from the first terminal device.

46. A computer program product for controlling unsolicited messaging in a real time messaging (RTM) network, the computer program product having a medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising:

computer program code for verifying an origination of a call initiation request on behalf of a first terminal device, the verifying being performed at least in part using marks included in the call initiation request that identifies an origination characteristic of the call initiation request;

computer program code for determining a delivery action in response to the verifying; and

computer program code for delivering the call initiation requests in accordance with the delivery action.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the computer program code for verifying is performed at least in part by verifying a digital signature derived from at least a portion of the call initiation request.

48. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the computer program code for verifying is performed at least in part by verifying an originating internet protocol (IP) address.

49. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the computer program code for verifying is performed at least in part by verifying an encrypted call initiation request or an encrypted portion thereof.

50. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the origination identifies at least one of an entity associated with the marking of the call initiation requests, a message originator originating the call initiation requests, and an affiliation of the message originator.

51. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the computer program code for verifying comprises using a public key to validate a digital signature.

52. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the computer program code for determining includes computer program code for determining a reputation associated with the origination and wherein the computer program code for determining a delivery action is responsive to the reputation.

53. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the computer program code for determining a reputation comprises computer program code for retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information associated with the origination or marking of the call initiation request.

54. The computer program product of claim 52 wherein the determining a reputation comprises retrieving the reputation from one or more stores of reputation information associated with the call initiation request.

55. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the computer program code for determining a delivery action comprises computer program code for applying a policy in response to the reputation, the policy defining rules for directing a delivery of the call initiation request.

56. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the delivery action comprises at least one of completing the delivery of the call initiation request, rejecting the delivery of the call initiation request, and filtering the call initiation request.

57. The computer program product of claim 56, wherein the filtering the call initiation request comprises at least one of interacting with a second terminal device associated with the call initiation request;

and taking a message from the second terminal device, wherein the second terminal device is associated with the origination of the call initiation request.

58. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the RTM network is configured to provide at least one of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, instant messaging (IM) services, and video conferencing services.

59. A system for controlling unsolicited messaging in a real time messaging (RTM) network, the system comprising:

a signing gateway communicatively coupled to one or more message originators and to the RTM network, the signing gateway being configured to receive a call initiation request from a first message originator, mark the call initiation request to generate a signed call initiation request, and relay the signed call initiation request to the RTM network on behalf the first message originator, the signed call initiation request identifying an origination characteristic of the call initiation request; and

a verifying gateway communicatively coupled to the RTM network and one or more message recipients, the verifying gateway being configured to receive the signed call initiation request, verify the signed call initiation request on behalf of at least one message recipient to determine the origination characteristic, and determine a delivery action to selectively deliver the signed call initiation request in response to the origination characteristic.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the signing gateway marks the call initiation requests with at least one of a digital signature, an originating internet protocol (IP) address, or by encrypting a call initiation request.

61. The system of claim 59, further comprising a public key store communicatively coupled to the signing gateway and verifying gateway, the public key store providing a public key of a private/public key pair to the verifying gateway, and wherein the signing gateway is configured to mark the call initiation request by applying a private key of the private/public key pair and the verifying gateway is configured to verify the signed call initiation request by applying the public key.

62. The system of claim 59, further comprising a one or more reputation information stores communicatively coupled to the verifying gateway, the reputation information stores comprising reputation information for at least some of the message originators, wherein the verifying gateway is configured to determine a reputation for the message originator associated with the signed call initiation request and to selectively deliver the signed call initiation request in response to the reputation.

63. The system of claim 59, wherein the delivery action comprises at least one of completing the delivery of the call initiation request, rejecting the delivery of the call initiation request, and filtering the call initiation request.

64. The system of claim 59, wherein the RTM network is configured to provide at least one of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, instant messaging (IM) services, and video conferencing services.