Certification Of E-Mails With Embedded Code
First Claim
1. A method for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
- receiving from an e-mail sender an item of proposed content to be certified, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer;
determining that the included code is not malicious code; and
responsive to the determination, providing a certification to the e-mail sender that the code is not malicious code.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Certification of embedded content in e-mail is provided. A sender wishing to have code certified for inclusion in e-mail sends the code to a token authority. A code verification engine acting automatically or in conjunction with an analyst examines the code to determine whether it poses a risk of harm to e-mail recipients. If not, the token authority issues a certificate for the embedded content. The mail sender sends e-mail to recipients including the embedded content, and the certification is sent in conjunction with the content itself. A mailbox provider inspects the received e-mail to determine whether it includes embedded content and, if so, whether a certification is attached that the embedded content is not harmful. If not, or if the message includes uncertified content in addition to certified content, then the message is rejected, or delivered with a warning that certification is not present.
61 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
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receiving from an e-mail sender an item of proposed content to be certified, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer; determining that the included code is not malicious code; and responsive to the determination, providing a certification to the e-mail sender that the code is not malicious code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of claim 12 further comprising providing a second digital signature usable to validate the first digital signature.
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13-1. A method for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
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providing an item of proposed content to be certified, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer; receiving a certification of the proposed content; creating an electronic mail message, the message including the certified content; and transmitting the electronic mail message to an addressee of the message.
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14. A method for displaying certified content in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
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receiving an electronic mail message having embedded content; validating a certificate associated with the embedded content; and responsive to the certificate being valid, displaying the embedded content. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the system comprising:
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a code verification engine adapted to receive from an e-mail sender an item of proposed content to be certified, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer, and further adapted to determine that the included code is not malicious code; and a token generator, coupled to the code verification engine, adapted to provide a certification to the e-mail sender that the code is not malicious code. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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20. The system of 19 wherein the proposed content specifies indicia of a video content player.
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21. The system of 19 further comprising a video player database coupled to the code verification engine and including code for executing the video content player indicated by the proposed content.
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23. A computer program product having a computer-readable storage medium having computer executable code for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the code adapted to perform steps comprising:
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receiving from an e-mail sender an item of proposed content to be certified, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer; determining that the included code is not malicious code; and responsive to the determination, providing a certification to the e-mail sender that the code is not malicious code.
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24. A method for certifying embedded content in an electronic mail message, the method comprising:
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receiving from an e-mail sender an item of proposed content, the proposed content including code for affecting the behavior of a computer; determining that the included code is not malicious code; storing the proposed code; receiving a request on behalf of an email recipient for the stored proposed code; and providing the stored proposed code in response to the request. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification