Method and apparatus for detecting suspicious, deceptive, and dangerous links in electronic messages
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method performed at a server for analyzing an electronic message, the method comprising:
- receiving, at the server, the electronic message;
determining if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, examining the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, modifying the message to include a warning that the link might be illegitimate.
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Abstract
Described are apparatus and methods for the analysis of characteristics of links intended to deceive a message recipient. The analysis can be employed at the receiving client, an intermediate server, or at other points to help protect the user from fraud without blocking legitimate content. For example, this analysis can be used to warn users attempting to follow such links. This analysis can also be used to mark the links in an indicative way on display. This analysis can also be used as input to spam-scoring algorithms.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method performed at a server for analyzing an electronic message, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the server, the electronic message;
determining if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, examining the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, modifying the message to include a warning that the link might be illegitimate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-implemented method performed at a client for analyzing an electronic message, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the client, the electronic message;
determining if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, examining the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, presenting a warning that the message includes a link that might be illegitimate. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions for analyzing an electronic message, the instructions comprising:
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receiving the electronic message;
determining if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, examining elements of the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, presenting a warning that the message includes a link that might be illegitimate. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for analyzing an electronic message, comprising:
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a computer-readable medium on which is stored computer-executable instructions for persistent storage;
a computer memory in which reside the computer-executable instructions for execution; and
a processor coupled to the computer-readable medium and the computer memory with a system bus, the processor being operative to execute the computer-executable instructions to;
receive the electronic message;
determine if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, examine elements of the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, present a warning that the message includes a link that might be illegitimate.
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30. An apparatus for analyzing an electronic message, comprising:
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means for receiving the electronic message;
means for determining if the message includes at least one link;
if the message includes a link, means for examining elements of the link to determine if the link includes a characteristic that suggests the link is an illegitimate link; and
if the link does include the characteristic, means for presenting a warning that the message includes a link that might be illegitimate.
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Specification