Providing Trusted Communication

• US 20100317319A1
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gorman, Kai, Murphy, Grant C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5322 for recording text messages

Abstract

Electronic communication is susceptible to SPAM, phishing attacks, and other unwanted communications because of a recipient'"'"'s limited control over communication transmitted by a sender. Functionality can be implemented to employ a multi-level approach to establishing trust between a sender and a recipient prior to transmitting any communication to prevent unwanted content from being transmitted to a recipient. Initial levels of trust may be established by requiring the sender to provide trust establishment information about the recipient. Based on the validity and percent accuracy of the provided trust establishment information, the communication may be discarded or transmitted to the recipient. A final level of trust depends on the approval of a trust validation request sent to the recipient on behalf of the sender. Such a system configured to provide trusted communication can reduce the probability of the recipient receiving large scale SPAM, phishing attacks, telemarketing calls, and other unwanted communication.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a communication request from a sender, wherein the communication request comprises trust establishment information and precedes a first communication between the sender and a first recipient;

storing the first communication in a communication repository;

determining that a trust relationship between the sender and the first recipient is not indicated in a trust relationship map, wherein the trust relationship map indicates trust relationships between a plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through a communications server;

comparing the trust establishment information in the communication request with a stored set of trust information configured by the first recipient;

determining that the trust establishment information in the communication request is correct; and

transmitting, to the first recipient, a trust validation request to determine whether to send the stored first communication to the first recipient, wherein the trust validation request indicates, at least, the trust establishment information in the communication request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication is a mobile phone voice communication, and wherein the sender is identified by a sender mobile phone number and the first recipient is identified by a recipient mobile phone number.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first recipient, a response to the trust validation request, wherein the response indicates a rejection of the trust validation request;

notifying the first recipient of a breach in trust establishment information; and

generating a relationship mapping between the sender and the first recipient in a denied relationship map, wherein the denied relationship map indicates rejected trust validation requests between the plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through the communications server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first recipient, a response to the trust validation request, wherein the response indicates an acceptance of the trust validation request;

generating a relationship mapping between the sender and the first recipient in the trust relationship map; and

transmitting the stored first communication to the first recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a second communication, intended for the first recipient, from the sender;

determining that a trust relationship between the sender and the first recipient is indicated in the trust relationship map; and

transmitting the second communication from the sender to the first recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting the second communication from the sender to the first recipient further comprises either one of determining that trust establishment information in a header associated with the second communication is accurate in accordance with the stored set of trust information prior to said transmitting the second communication from the sender to the first recipient and transmitting the second communication from the sender to the first recipient without verification of the trust establishment information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a number of communications transmitted by the sender exceeds an allowable number of transmitted communications; and

closing a communication account associated with the sender.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first recipient configures one or more trust levels based, at least in part, on the stored set of trust establishment information.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating a trust establishment request in response to the communication request received from the sender, wherein the trust establishment request is transmitted to the sender to verify the authenticity of the sender, and wherein the trust establishment request comprises a set of one or more trust questions based on the stored set of trust information;

determining a number of correct responses to the set of one or more trust questions in the trust establishment request based on receiving, from the sender, a response to the trust establishment request; and

associating a trust level of the one or more trust levels based, at least in part, on the determining the number of correct responses to the set of one or more trust questions in the trust establishment request.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third communication for a second recipient, from the sender, wherein the third communication comprises multimedia content;

determining that a trust relationship between the sender and the second recipient is indicated in the trust relationship map;

determining a low level of trust associated with the sender based on a trust policy configured by the second recipient; and

transmitting the third communication to the second recipient without multimedia content based on the determining a low level of trust associated with the sender based on a trust policy configured by the second recipient.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first communication transmitted by a sender to a recipient, wherein the first communication comprises trust establishment information;

determining that a trust relationship between the sender and the recipient is not indicated in a trust relationship map, wherein the trust relationship map indicates trust relationships between a plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through a communications server;

comparing the trust establishment information in the first communication with a stored set of trust information configured by the recipient;

determining that the trust establishment information in the first communication is incorrect; and

generating a relationship mapping between the sender and the recipient in a denied relationship map, wherein the denied relationship map indicates rejected trust validation requests between the plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through the communications server.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a second communication transmitted by the sender to the recipient;

determining that there exists a relationship between the sender and the recipient in the denied relationship map; and

preventing the second communication from being transmitted to the recipient.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first communication is one of a short messaging services communication, a voice over internet protocol communication, an instant message, a multimedia messaging service communication, and a mobile phone voice communication.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring a transfer of communication between the server and at least one of the sender and the recipient;

determining that the sender is suspicious, based at least in part, on the monitored transfer of communication between the server and the sender; and

preventing the sender from transmitting communications to the plurality of recipients.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining that the sender is suspicious comprises one or more of determining that a number of communication requests transmitted by the sender exceeds a maximum allowable limit, determining that trust validation requests sent to one or more recipients are rejected, determining that a number of communications transmitted within a predefined time exceeds a maximum allowable limit, and determining that the sender simultaneously transmits a communication to a large number of recipients.

16. A computer program product for providing trusted communication, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to;

receive a communication request from a sender, wherein the communication request comprises trust establishment information and precedes a first communication between the sender and a first recipient;

store the first communication in a communication repository;

determine that a trust relationship between the sender and the first recipient is not indicated in a trust relationship map, wherein the trust relationship map indicates trust relationships between a plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through a communications server;

compare the trust establishment information in the communication request with a stored set of trust information configured by the first recipient;

determine that the trust establishment information in the communication request is correct; and

transmit, to the first recipient, a trust validation request to determine whether to send the stored first communication to the first recipient, wherein the trust validation request indicates, at least, the trust establishment information in the communication request.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code is further configured to:

receive a second communication for a second recipient, from the sender, wherein the second communication comprises multimedia content;

determine that a trust relationship between the sender and the second recipient is indicated in the trust relationship map;

determine a low level of trust associated with the sender based on a trust policy configured by the second recipient; and

transmit the second communication to the second recipient without multimedia content based on the determining a low level of trust associated with the sender based on a trust policy configured by the second recipient.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the computer usable program code is further configured to:

receive, from the first recipient, a response to the trust validation request, wherein the response indicates a rejection of the trust validation request;

notify the first recipient of a breach in trust establishment information; and

generate a relationship mapping between the sender and the first recipient in a denied relationship map, wherein the denied relationship map indicates rejected trust validation requests between the plurality of senders and recipients whose communications pass through the communications server.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a set of one or more processor units;

a memory unit coupled to the set of one or more processor units; and

a trusted communications controller configured to establish trust relationships and provide trusted communications between a plurality of senders and a plurality of recipients, the trusted communications controller comprising;

a communication repository configured to store communications between the plurality of senders and the plurality of recipients;

a user registry configured to store trust information and trust policy configured by the plurality of recipients; and

an activity monitor configured to monitor transfer of communications between the trusted communications provider and at least one of a sender of the plurality of senders and a recipient of the plurality of recipients; and

a trust determination unit configured to

receive a communication request from a sender, wherein the communication request comprises trust establishment information and precedes a communication between the sender and a recipient;

store the communication in the communication repository;

determine that a trust relationship between the sender and the recipient is not indicated in a trust relationship map, wherein the trust relationship map indicates trust relationships between the plurality of senders and recipients;

compare the trust establishment information in the communication request with a stored set of trust information in the user registry configured by the recipient;

determine that the trust establishment information in the communication request is correct; and

transmit, to the recipient, a trust validation request to determine whether to send the stored communication to the recipient, wherein the trust validation request indicates, at least, the trust establishment information in the communication request.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

the trust determination unit configured to

receive, from the first recipient, a response to the trust validation request, wherein the response indicates an acceptance of the trust validation request;

generate a relationship mapping between the sender and the first recipient in the trust relationship map; and

transmit the stored first communication to the first recipient.