SECURELY TRACKING ELECTRONIC MESSAGES

• US 20150264022A1
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sama, Venkata Babji, Manvi, Anand, Prasad, S.Balagiri, Sama, Venkat Chaitanya
• Granted Patent: US 9,197,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed herein for systematically tracking the entire forwarding flow of an electronic message, such as an email. A determination is made to track an electronic message prior to it being relayed to an intended recipient. When the electronic message is forwarded by the intended recipient, a feedback message is sent by the forwarder to the originator of the electronic message. This may be used to allow the original author to review and authorize recipients of the forwarded message. The original author need not know up front to whom the message might be forwarded. Note that this not only provides security, but also provides for fine grained system for tracking the flow of messages, such as sensitive emails. The system can automatically assess the risk of authorizing the recipient to whom the message was forwarded to have access to the content based on machine learning, rules, etc.

Claims

1. A method of processing electronic messages, the method comprising:

determining to track forwarding of a first electronic message that is received at a computer system, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

accessing a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator, the second electronic message is accessed at a computer system;

determining that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient, the forwarded recipient not being intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message; and

tracking a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history in a storage device, the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarded first electronic message comprises encrypted content, and further comprising:

determining whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content; and

providing, to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the tracking the forwarding history comprises:

accessing a third electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator, the third electronic message is accessed at a computer system;

determining that the third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message; and

adding to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises:

determining that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version being addressed to the originator, the forwarded version identifying the forwarded recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises:

storing message identifiers in computer readable storage in response to determining that electronic messages are to be tracked, including storing a message identifier for the first electronic message;

accessing a message identifier from the second electronic message; and

determining the message identifier from the second electronic message matches the message identifier for the first electronic message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically determining a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to content of the first electronic message, the determining a security risk is based on the forwarding history of the first electronic message and forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

providing, to the originator, a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the content of the first electronic message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining to track a first electronic message that is received at a computer system and the determining that a second electronic message is a feedback message are performed at a system that processes all emails that are sent by or received by the originator.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically adding information to a header of the second electronic message in response to the intended recipient forwarding the first electronic message to the forwarded recipient, the information indicates that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a processor readable storage device; and

a processor that;

determines to track forwarding of a first electronic message, the first electronic message comprising content, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

accesses a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator;

determines that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient that was not intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message; and

tracks a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history in the processor readable storage device, the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor:

encrypts the content of the first electronic message prior to the first electronic message being transmitted to the intended recipient;

automatically determines whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message; and

provides, to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the processor:

determines that a third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message, the third electronic message is addressed to the originator; and

adds to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein, to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message, the processor:

determines that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version lists the forwarded recipient as an addressee and the originator as an addressee.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein, to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded, the processor:

stores message identifiers, including a first message identifier for the first electronic message, in the processor readable storage device in response to determining to track electronic messages;

accesses a message identifier from a header of the second electronic message; and

determines that the message identifier from the second electronic message matches in the first message identifier for the first electronic message.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor:

tracks forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator;

determines a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message based on the forwarding history of the first electronic message and the forwarding history of the other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

provides, to the originator, the security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the first electronic message.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor:

serves as a gateway that controls delivery of electronic messages into and out of a domain of the gateway.

16. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to determine to track forwarding of a first electronic message, the first electronic message comprising content, the first electronic message identifying an originator of the first electronic message and an intended recipient of the first electronic message;

computer readable program code configured to access a second electronic message that is addressed for delivery to the originator;

computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the intended recipient to a forwarded recipient that was not intended by the originator as a recipient of the first electronic message; and

computer readable program code configured to track a forwarding history of the first electronic message, comprising storing the forwarding history, the forwarding history indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded from the intended recipient to the forwarded recipient.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to encrypt the content of the first electronic message prior to the first electronic message being transmitted to the intended recipient;

computer readable program code configured to determine whether the originator authorizes the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the forwarded first electronic message; and

computer readable program code configured to provide, to the forwarded recipient, a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted content after determining that the originator authorized the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the forwarded recipient is a first forwarded recipient, wherein the computer readable program code configured to track the forwarding history comprises computer readable program code configured to determine that a third electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded by the first forwarded recipient to a second forwarded recipient, neither the first forwarded recipient nor the second forwarded recipient were intended by the originator as recipients of the first electronic message, the third electronic message is addressed to the originator;

and computer readable program code configured to add to the forwarding history that the first electronic message was forwarded from the first forwarded recipient to the second forwarded recipient.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a forwarded version of the first electronic message, the forwarded version identifying the forwarded recipient as a first addressee and the originator as a second addressee.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine that the second electronic message is a feedback message that indicates that the first electronic message was forwarded comprises the computer readable program code configured to store a first message identifier for the first electronic message in response to determining to track the first electronic message, computer readable program code configured to access a message identifier from the second electronic message, and computer readable program code configured to determine the message identifier from the second electronic message matches the first message identifier.

21. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to track forwarding history of other electronic messages sent by the originator;

computer readable program code configured to determine a security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to encrypted content of the first electronic message based on the forwarding history of the first electronic message and the forwarding history of the other electronic messages sent by the originator; and

computer readable program code configured to provide, to the originator, the security risk of authorizing the forwarded recipient to have access to the encrypted content of the first electronic message.