System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail

• US 6,868,498 B1
• Filed: 08/25/2000
• Issued: 03/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cufer Asset Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC), Peter L. Katsikas
• Original Assignee: TitanKey Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Katsikas, Peter L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOFFMAN, BRANDON S
• Application Number:
  US09/648,894
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 713/201, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 726/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network employs an email-receiving server connected between the network and the user'"'"'s email client for receiving email addressed to the user and rejecting those in which the sender address does not match any of sender addresses maintained on an “authorized senders” list (ASL list). The ASL lists are maintained by an ASL manager in an ASL database operable with a spam processor module. A redirector module rejects the email if, upon sending a request for validation to the spam processor module, the sender'"'"'s address does not match any authorized sender address on the ASL list. Email rejected by the redirector module is redirected to a web-based messaging (WBM) module which sends a message to the sender to confirm that the sender is a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient. If the sender logs on to confirm their status, the WBM module executes an interaction procedure which can only be performed by a human, in order to ensure that the confirmation procedure is not performed by a mechanical program. The ASL manager maintains the ASL lists based upon sender address data collected from various sources and analyses of various email usage factors, including sent email, received email, contact lists maintained by the user, user preference inputs, third party programs, etc.

Claims

1. A method for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;

(b) making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user,

(c) receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email-sending system protocol a message from the email-sending server requesting to send email which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address;

(d) causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL list; and

(e) if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server under the common email-sending system protocol to send a reply message to the email-sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email is not recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending server from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the sender is unable to send the unwanted email to the user and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the ASL module includes an ASL database for storing ASL lists of authorized sender addresses for respective users of the email-receiving server, a spam processor module for checking the ASL lists for matches, and an ASL manager for creating, maintaining, and updating the ASL lists.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein a redirector module is provided to operate with the ASL module for receiving the message from the email-sending server requesting to send mail designating the sender'"'"'s address and intended recipient'"'"'s address, for sending a request for validation to the spam processor module to determine whether the sender'"'"'s address matches any authorized sender address maintained on the ASL list corresponding to the address of the intended recipient, for sending the reply message accepting the email from the email-sending server ifs match to an authorized sender address is found, and for sending the error message not accepting the email if no match to an authorized sender address is found on the ASL list.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein a web-based messaging (WBM) module is provided to which the sender of intended email that is not accepted by the email-receiving server is redirected by the redirector module, and wherein the WBM module sends a message to the address of the sender of the non-accepted email notifying the sender to confirm with the WBM module that the sender is a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the WBM module is a website accessible on the network which invites the notified sender to log on and confirm that the sender is a legitimate sender of email through an interaction procedure which can only be performed by a human.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the interaction procedure includes a display of a graphic image of a word in a non-standard font, and a prompt to the sender to enter in a word corresponding to the graphic image of the word, whereby the system can confirm that the interaction procedure is not performed by a mechanical program.

7. A method according to claim 4, wherein once the sender is confirmed as a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient user, the WBM website sends a message to the redirector module at the users email-receiving server that the sender is confirmed as a legitimate sender by the WBM website.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein email addresses used on email sent by a user which receives email through the email-receiving server and other addresses accessed by the user on the network are captured and stored with the ASL manager for later analysis.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the ASL manager analyzes the captured addresses using a rules processor for processing predefined address capture rules for updating the ASL lists using data from an email address source selected from the group of email address sources consisting of:

received email;

sent email;

user inputs to email service function on the email client;

inputs from user browsing of web sites;

user desktop organizer and other contact ists; and

third party address program inputs.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the ASL manager analyzes the captured addresses using a rules processor for processing predefined analysis rules for updating the ASL lists using data from an analysis source selected from the group of analysis sources consisting of:

user email log analysis;

expiration date analysis;

low/high email volume analysis;

fuzzy logic analysis; and

third party data analysis.

11. A method according to claim 2, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists to designate a sender-address status for each sender address selected from the group of sender-address statuses consisting of:

always authorized as a friend;

authorized as a friend over a date range;

authorized as a friend before an expiration date;

always rejected as a spammer;

rejected as a spammer matching a black list; and

rejected as a spammer sent with an error message.

12. A method for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising the steps

(a) establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;

(b) making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) which identifies email addresses of senders not authorized to send email to the user;

(c) receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email-sending system protocol, a message from the email-sending server requesting to send mail which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address;

(d) causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL List of senders not authorized to send email to the user; and

(e) if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server under the common email-sending system protocol to send a reply message to the email-sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being not authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL List, causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending server from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the sender is unable to send the unwanted email and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the ASL module includes an ASL database for storing ASL lists of both authorized and non-authorized sender addresses for respective users of the email-receiving server, a spam processor module for checking the ASL lists for matches, and an ASL manager for creating, maintaining, and updating the ASL lists.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein a redirector module is provided to operate with the ASL module for receiving the message from the email-sending server requesting to send email designating the sender'"'"'s address and intended recipient'"'"'s address, for sending a request for validation to the spam processor module to determine whether the senders address matches any authorized sender address maintained on the ASL list corresponding to the address of the intended recipient, for sending the reply message accepting the email from the email-sending server if a match to an authorized sender address is found, and for sending an error message not accepting the email if no match to an authorized sender address is found on the ASL list.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein a web-based messaging (WBM) module is provided to which the sender of intended email that is not accepted by the email-receiving server is redirected by the redirector module, and wherein the WBM module sends a message to the address of the sender of the non-accepted email notifying the sender to confirm with the WBM module that the sender is a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient.

16. A method according to claim 13, wherein once the sender is confirmed as a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient user, the WBM website sends a message to the redirector module at the user'"'"'s email-receiving server that the sender is confirmed as a legitimate sender by the WBM website.

17. A method according to claim 13, wherein email addresses used on email sent by a user which receives email through the email-receiving server and other addresses accessed by the user on the network are captured and stored with the ASL manager for later analysis, and wherein the ASL manager analyzes the captured addresses using a rules processor for processing predefined address capture rules for updating the ASL lists using data from an email address source selected from the group of email address sources consisting of:

received email;

sent email;

user inputs to email service functions on the email client;

inputs from user browsing of web sites;

user desktop organizer and other contact lists;

an third party address program inputs.

18. A method according to claim 13, wherein email addresses used on email sent by a user which receives email through the email-receiving server and other addresses accessed by the user on the network are captured and stored with the ASL manager for later analysis, and wherein the ASL manager analyzes the captured addresses using a rules processor for processing predefined analysis rules for updating the ASL Lists using data from an analysis source selected from the group of analysis sources consisting of;

user email log analysis;

expiration date analysis;

low/high email volume analysis;

fizzy logic analysis; and

third party data analysis.

19. A method according to claim 13, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists to designate a sender-address status for each sender address selected from the group of sender-address status consisting of always authorized as a friend;

authorized as a friend over a date range;

authorized as a friend before an expiration date;

always rejected as a spammer, rejected as a spammer matching a black list; and

rejected as a spa ner sent with an error message.

20. A system for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising:

(a) first means for establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;

(b) second means for making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) for identifying which email addresses of senders are authorized to send email to the user;

(c) third means for receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email sending system protocol, a message from the email-sending server requesting to send email which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address; and

(d) fourth means for causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL list as being authorized to send email to the user,

(e) wherein, if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL list, said fourth means causing the email-receiving server to send a reply message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-Sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email not authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL list, said fourth means causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the is usable to send the unwanted email and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server.