System for Applying a Variety of Policies and Actions to Electronic Messages Before they Leave the Control of the Message Originator

• US 20080162652A1
• Filed: 02/14/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Safecore, Inc.
• Original Assignee: InBoxer, Inc. (Safecore, Inc.)
• Inventors: Matus, Roger L., Ingold, Charles, True, Sean Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/816,275
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162652A1
• 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 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00

Abstract

A system that allows senders to manage electronic messaging content at the point of origin integrates with the client application being used to prepare the message for sending. A send request is intercepted inside the client and a series of message analysis steps is performed that analyze the sender, recipient, message, any attachments to the message, and/or related content and information. The output of the message analysis steps is made available for use with rules that specify the performance of a number of actions. The content analysis steps and the actions taken may be determined by the sender or may be centrally managed and determined by an organization.

Claims

1. A method for managing electronic messages comprising the steps, in combination, of:

applying at least one message classification technique to an outgoing message before it leaves control of the sending organization to produce at least one classification output; and

performing at least one of a set of designated actions on the message in response to the classification output.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one message classification technique is a probabilistic classifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of designated actions is selected from the group consisting of blocking the message, forwarding the message, labeling the message, and inserting the message into a database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of intercepting a request to send the outgoing message in the client e-mail application in order to classify and take action on the message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request is intercepted in the client email application using standard programming interfaces offered by the client application.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the request is intercepted inside the email client using at least one technique selected from the group comprised of code injection, event hooking, and reverse engineering.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of offering a sender an opportunity to correct a message classification in an interactive dialog before the designated action is performed.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of offering a sender an opportunity to correct or train the probabilistic classifier when the classifier produced a score in an unsure range of scores.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of forwarding information derived from correction of the probabilistic classifier to a central database.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of forwarding information derived from correction of the probabilistic classifier directly to other designated users for use in further message classification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of applying at least one message classification technique is performed on a separate machine or server.

12. A memory device, the memory device containing code which, when executed in a processor, performs the steps of:

applying at least one message classification technique to an outgoing message before it leaves control of the sending organization; and

performing at least one of a set of designated actions on the message in response to an output from the step of applying at least one message classification technique.

13. The memory device of claim 12, the memory device further containing code which, when executed in a processor, performs the step of intercepting a request to send the outgoing message in the client e-mail application in order to classify and take action on the message.

14. The memory device of claim 12, the memory device further containing code which, when executed in a processor, performs the step of offering a sender an opportunity to correct a message classification in an interactive dialog before the designated action is performed.

15. The memory device of claim 12, wherein the at least one message classification technique is a probabilistic classifier.

16. A system for managing electronic messages, comprising:

outgoing message interceptor;

outgoing message classifier, the message classifier producing at least one classification result for a message intercepted by the message interceptor; and

rules application engine for applying policies to the message classification result and directing a possible subsequent action to take with regard to the intercepted message.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a user dialog function for notifying a sender of an intercepted message of violation of the policies.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user dialog function also solicits an instruction from the sender as to an action to be taken.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a trainer for the message classifier, the trainer being responsive to information derived from the instruction.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising a notification facility for sending information derived from output of the message classifier, output of the rules application engine, or the instruction to an administrator.