APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGE

• US 20090043860A1
• Filed: 08/06/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: MATOBA, NOBUMITSU, MAEDERA, MASAHIKO, AOKI, KAZUO
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,808 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

The present invention enables accurate detection of risks from an electronic mail message. In a mail inspection unit, an information extraction section extracts text and a mail address from electronic mail accumulated in a journal DB, and a text normalization section normalizes the text. A sort-information saving section generates text sort information according to the score obtained from a sorting engine, and stores it in a mail-management-information storage section. A personal-information saving section extracts personal information from a personal-information storage section according to the mail address, and stores it in the mail-management-information storage section. Finally, a risk-level determination section compares the information stored in the mail-management-information storage section with the information stored in a category-information storage section to determine the risk level of the electronic mail.

Claims

1. An apparatus for detecting an inspection characteristic in an electronic mail message, the apparatus comprising:

a first acquisition section for acquiring first characteristic information on the content of the electronic mail message according to the text information of the electronic mail message;

a second acquisition section for acquiring second characteristic information on at least one of the sender and the addressee of the electronic mail message according to the address information of the electronic mail message; and

a determination section for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic by comparing the first characteristic information acquired by the first acquisition section with a first condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic and by comparing the second characteristic information acquired by the second acquisition section with a second condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the first acquisition section and the second acquisition section store the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information in a memory;

and

the determination section determines whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic asynchronously with the storage of the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information into the memory.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first condition is a combination of a plurality of conditions for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the case where the inspection characteristic is a breach of a specific authorized action, the second condition includes a condition regarding the specific authorized action of the sender.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the case where the inspection characteristic is an action toward another person using a relation with the person, the second condition includes a condition regarding the relation between the sender and the addressee.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sorting section for sorting the electronic mail message into one of a plurality of categories which are predetermined for the inspection characteristic according to the determination made by the determination section.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a saving section for saving, as an attribute of the sender of the electronic mail message, information according to the category into which the electronic mail message is sorted by the sorting section.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control section for controlling the apparatus so that at least one of the first acquisition section, the second acquisition section, and the determination section operates according to a schedule that is predefined for the inspection characteristic.

9. A method for detecting an inspection characteristic in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:

acquiring first characteristic information on the content of the electronic mail message according to the text information of the electronic mail message;

reading personal information including the electronic mail address information of each user and the characteristic information of each user from storage means;

acquiring second characteristic information on at least one of the sender and the addressee of the electronic mail message by searching the personal information read from the storage means according to the address information of the electronic mail message; and

determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic by comparing the first characteristic information with a first condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic and by comparing the second characteristic information with a second condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

sorting the electronic mail message into one of a plurality of categories which are predetermined for the inspection characteristic according to the determination made in the determining of whether the electronic message has the inspection characteristic.

11. A computer program product having computer usable program code for detecting an inspection characteristic in an electronic mail message, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for acquiring first characteristic information on the content of the electronic mail message according to the text information of the electronic mail message;

computer usable program code for acquiring second characteristic information on at least one of the sender and the addressee of the electronic mail message according to the address information of the electronic mail message; and

computer usable program code for associating the first characteristic information acquired by the first acquisition section and the second characteristic information acquired by the second acquisition section with the electronic mail message.

12. The computer usable program according to claim 11, further comprising computer usable program code for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic by comparing the first characteristic information associated with the electronic mail message by the association with a first condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic and by comparing the second characteristic information associated with the electronic mail message by the association with a second condition for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic.

13. The computer usable program according to claim 12, wherein the determination section determines whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic asynchronously with the association of the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information with the electronic mail message.

14. The computer usable program according to claim 12, wherein the first condition is a combination of a plurality of conditions for determining whether the electronic mail message has the inspection characteristic.

15. The computer usable program according to claim 12, further comprising computer usable program code for sorting the electronic mail message into one of a plurality of categories which are predetermined for the inspection characteristic according to the determination made by the determination section.

16. The computer usable program according to claim 15, further comprising computer usable program code for saving, as an attribute of the sender of the electronic mail message, information on the category into which the electronic mail message is sorted by the sorting section.

17. The computer usable program according to claim 11, further comprising computer usable program code for controlling the apparatus so that at least one of the first acquisition section, the second acquisition section, and the determination section operates according to a schedule that is predefined for the inspection characteristic.