Systems And Methods For Creating And Updating Reputation Records

• US 20100115040A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sargent, James, Moortgat, Jean-Jacques, Adkins, Michael, Romary, Sylvia Margot, Xiao, Ding, Maxwell, Lachlan
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented method is provided for generating a reputation record and filtering electronic messages, each reputation record including a reputation score and a reputation key. The method includes receiving at least one incoming event notification, including a reputation key; determining, based on the reputation key, whether a corresponding reputation record exists; creating a new reputation record if the corresponding reputation record does not exist; determining a trust determination function based on the incoming event notification; calculating a reputation score based on the determined trust determination function, the incoming event notification, and an attribute associated with the reputation key; storing the calculated reputation score along with the reputation key in either the new reputation record or the corresponding reputation record; and filtering one or more electronic messages based on the calculated reputation score.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating and updating reputation records, each reputation record including a reputation score, and a unique reputation key, comprising:

receiving at least one incoming event notification, including an indexing reputation key;

determining, based on the indexing reputation key, if a corresponding reputation record exists;

creating, if the corresponding reputation record does not exist, a new reputation record including a default reputation score;

storing, when the new reputation record is created, the default reputation score as the reputation score and the indexing reputation key as the unique reputation key; and

updating, in the corresponding reputation record or the new reputation record, the reputation score based on the at least one incoming event notification and a trust determination function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust determination function updates the reputation score based on one or more of:

a registration attribute, a spam report event, a TINS reporting event, an email sending behavior, a sent email attribute, an email listing behavior, an email reading behavior, an action event, a whitelist/blacklist history, and a mail volume.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an alert based on an updated reputation score, or a difference between the updated reputation score and the default reputation score, and sending the alert to an alert subscriber client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming event notification is based on one of:

an account creation date, a SPAM report, TINS report, a rate of e-mail sending, and a ratio of e-mail sending.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering one or more electronic messages based on the calculated reputation score.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each reputation record further comprises a reputation category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the default reputation score is a pre-determined static value stored by a reputation server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing each reputation record in a cache complex and a persistent storage system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a confidence factor for each reputation record that defines a certainty associated with the reputation score of each reputation record, and storing the confidence factor with the reputation record.

10. A computer-implemented method for calculating a reputation score and filtering electronic messages, comprising:

receiving at least one incoming event notification, including an indexing reputation key;

determining, based on the indexing reputation key and at least one event type, a trust determination function;

calculating a reputation score based on the determined trust determination function; and

filtering one or more electronic messages based on the calculated reputation score.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a confidence factor for each reputation score that defines a certainty associated with the reputation score, and storing the confidence factor with the reputation score.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating an alert based on the calculated reputation score, or a difference between the reputation score and a threshold reputation score, and sending the alert to an alert subscriber client.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the event type includes one of:

an account creation, a SPAM report, TINS report, or an e-mail event.

14. The method of claim 10, further including determining a reputation category based on the indexing reputation key, the at least one event type, and the trust determination function.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing each indexing reputation score and calculated reputation score in a cache complex and a persistent storage system.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the trust determination function calculates the reputation score based on one or more of:

a registration attribute, a spam report event, a TINS reporting event, an email sending behavior, a sent email attribute, an email listing behavior, an email reading behavior, an action event, a whitelist/blacklist history, and a mail volume.

17. A computer-implemented method for generating a reputation record and filtering electronic messages, each reputation record including a reputation score and a reputation key, the method comprising:

receiving at least one incoming event notification, including a reputation key;

determining, based on the reputation key, whether a corresponding reputation record exists;

creating a new reputation record if the corresponding reputation record does not exist;

determining a trust determination function based on the incoming event notification;

calculating a reputation score based on the determined trust determination function, the incoming event notification, and an attribute associated with the reputation key;

storing the calculated reputation score along with the reputation key in either the new reputation record or the corresponding reputation record; and

filtering one or more electronic messages based on the calculated reputation score.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the trust determination function calculates the reputation score based on one or more of:

a registration attribute, a spam report event, a TINS reporting event, an email sending behavior, a sent email attribute, an email listing behavior, an email reading behavior, an action event, a whitelist/blacklist history, and a mail volume.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating a confidence factor for each reputation score that defines a certainty associated with the reputation score, and storing the confidence factor with the reputation score.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein filtering of the one or more messages is performed by blocking, suspending, or scrambling a password associated with an email account associated with the reputation key.