Spam Risk Assessment

• US 20070299916A1
• Filed: 06/21/2006
• Published: 12/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bates, Cary Lee, Illg, Jason J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,945,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method assess a spam risk associated with submission of a user'"'"'s private information to an entity such as a web site. For example, the spam risk associated with an entity accessible over an electronic communications medium may be assessed by monitoring an account of a user for receipt of unsolicited communications from the entity in response to the user submitting private information solicited by the entity, and determining a spam risk for the entity based upon the monitoring.

Claims

1. A method of assessing a spam risk associated with submitting an email address to a web site, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of users, detecting user submissions of email addresses to a web site, wherein the email addresses are associated with email accounts of the respective users;

subsequent to detecting a submission of an email address to the web site by one of the plurality of users, monitoring the email account of such user for receipt of unsolicited emails associated with the web site;

determining a spam risk for the web site based upon the monitoring; and

notifying a user visiting the web site of the determined spam risk.

2. A method of assessing a spam risk associated with an entity accessible over an electronic communications medium, the method comprising:

in response to a user submitting private information solicited by an entity over an electronic communications medium, monitoring an account of the user for receipt of unsolicited communications from the entity subsequent to the user submission; and

determining a spam risk for the entity based upon the monitoring.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the entity comprises a web site.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the private information comprises an email address, wherein the account comprises an email account, and wherein monitoring the account comprises monitoring the email account for receipt of unsolicited emails from the entity.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising monitoring a plurality of email accounts for a plurality of users for receipt of unsolicited emails from the entity, wherein determining the spam risk for the entity is based upon the monitoring of the plurality of email accounts.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the spam risk comprises detecting increased activity in the plurality of email accounts.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the spam risk comprises analyzing content of unsolicited emails for an affinity with the entity.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of email accounts are supplied by a common provider, the method further comprising determining whether a submitted email address is supplied by the common provider.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising notifying a second user of the spam risk for the entity in association with the second user being solicited by the entity for private information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein notifying the second user of the spam risk for the entity is performed by a toolbar executed by the second user'"'"'s computer.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising detecting the user submission of private information to the entity.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the user submission of private information to the entity is performed by a toolbar executed by the user'"'"'s computer.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing a toolbar to the plurality of users, the toolbar configured to detect user submissions of private information to various entities by the respective users and notify the respective users of spam risks of various entities.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the toolbar is further configured to communicate with a central service to report user submissions of private information and receive spam risks.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the private information is selected from the group consisting of an email address, an instant messaging address, a telephone number, and a geographical address.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

program code resident in the memory and configured to assess a spam risk associated with an entity accessible over an electronic communications medium by monitoring an account of a user for receipt of unsolicited communications from the entity subsequent to the user submitting private information solicited by the entity over the electronic communications medium, and determining a spam risk for the entity based upon the monitoring.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the entity comprises a web site.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the private information comprises an email address, wherein the account comprises an email account, and wherein the program code is configured to monitor the account by monitoring the email account for receipt of unsolicited emails from the entity.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the program code is further configured to monitor a plurality of email accounts for a plurality of users for receipt of unsolicited emails from the entity, and wherein the program code is configured to determine the spam risk for the entity based upon the monitoring of the plurality of email accounts.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the program code is configured to determine the spam risk by detecting increased activity in the plurality of email accounts.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the program code is configured to determine the spam risk by analyzing content of unsolicited emails for an affinity with the entity.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the plurality of email accounts are supplied by a common provider, wherein the program code is further configured to determine whether a submitted email address is supplied by the common provider.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the program code is further configured to notify a second user of the spam risk for the entity in association with the second user being solicited by the entity for private information.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a toolbar configured to be distributed to the plurality of users to detect user submissions of private information to various entities by the respective users and notify the respective users of spam risks of various entities.

25. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the private information is selected from the group consisting of an email address, an instant messaging address, a telephone number, and a geographical address.

26. A program product, comprising:

program code configured to assess a spam risk associated with an entity accessible over an electronic communications medium by monitoring an account of a user for receipt of unsolicited communications from the entity subsequent to the user submitting private information solicited by the entity over the electronic communications medium, and determining a spam risk for the entity based upon the monitoring; and

a computer readable medium bearing the program code.