Method and system for handling unwanted email messages

• US 20080114843A1
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Awasthi, Harish Mohan, Shinde, Rajesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,577,968 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for scanning incoming emails reduces the server resources needed, which improves server throughput and reduces costs. A method for processing incoming email messages comprised the steps of scanning incoming email messages to obtain an address of a sender of each incoming email message and to determine whether the email message is spam, for each email message that is determined to be spam, incrementing a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of the email message, determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, and thereafter, discarding all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

Claims

1. A method for processing incoming email messages, comprising the steps of:

scanning incoming email messages to obtain an address of a sender of each incoming email message and to determine whether the email message is spam;

for each email message that is determined to be spam, incrementing a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of the email message;

determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, discarding all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the discarding step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list; and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list at an end of the period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, sending to recipient inboxes all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list; and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein email addresses are added to the clean list at an end of the period of time.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list; and

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the discarding step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list, and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list; and

the sending step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list, and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the incrementing steps are performed for a period of time.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list and the clean list at an end of the period of time.

15. A system for processing incoming email messages comprising:

a processor operable to execute computer program instructions;

a memory operable to store computer program instructions executable by the processor; and

computer program instructions stored in the memory and executable to perform the steps of;

scanning incoming email messages to obtain an address of a sender of each incoming email message and to determine whether the email message is spam;

for each email message that is determined to be spam, incrementing a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of the email message;

determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, discarding all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the discarding step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list; and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list at an end of the period of time.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, sending to recipient inboxes all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the sending step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list; and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein email addresses are added to the clean list at an end of the period of time.

25. The system of claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list; and

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein:

the discarding step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list, and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list; and

the sending step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list, and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the incrementing steps are performed for a period of time.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list and the clean list at an end of the period of time.

29. A computer program product for processing incoming email messages comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

computer program instructions, recorded on the computer readable storage medium, executable by a processor, for performing the steps of

scanning incoming email messages to obtain an address of a sender of each incoming email message and to determine whether the email message is spam;

for each email message that is determined to be spam, incrementing a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of the email message;

determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, discarding all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the discarding step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list; and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list at an end of the period of time.

34. The computer program product of claim 29, further comprising the steps of:

determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold; and

thereafter, sending to recipient inboxes all incoming email messages from the sender for which the count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold without scanning the email messages to determine whether they are spam.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, further comprising the step of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the sending step comprises the steps of:

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list; and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the incrementing step is performed for a period of time.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein email addresses are added to the clean list at an end of the period of time.

39. The computer program product of claim 34, further comprising the steps of:

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are spam for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a spam list; and

in response to determining that a count of email messages that are clean for a sender of an email message has exceeded a threshold, placing an email address of the sender in a clean list.

40. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein:

the discarding step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the spam list, and

discarding the email message if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the spam list; and

the sending step comprises the steps of;

comparing an email address of a sender of an incoming email message with email addresses in the clean list, and

sending the email message to a recipient inbox if the email address of the sender of the incoming email message is found in the clean list.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the incrementing steps are performed for a period of time.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein email addresses are added to the spam list and the clean list at an end of the period of time.