Method and apparatus for authenticating electronic mail
First Claim
1. A method of authenticating an electronic mail, the method including:
- parsing a “
received”
field of a header of the electronic mail to identify actual domain name data included in the header at a server receiving the electronic mail from a mail client;
parsing the header to obtain purported sender data included in the header of the electronic mail;
comparing the actual domain name data and purported sender data;
generating an authenticity indicator in response to the comparison, the authenticity indicator providing an indication of the likelihood that the electronic mail was sent from a purported sender of the electronic mail; and
presenting the authenticity indicator to the recipient of the electronic mail.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for authenticating an electronic message are provided. The method includes investigating data in a header of the electronic message, and generating an authenticity indicator in response to the investigation. The authenticity indicator may provide an indication of the likelihood that the electronic message was sent from a purported sender visible to a recipient of the electronic message. In certain embodiments, the method includes presenting the authenticity indicator to the recipient of the electronic message. Investigating data in the header may include parsing the header to obtain purported sender data in a from field populated at a mail client and to obtain actual originator data, comparing the purported sender data and actual originator data, and generating the authenticity indicator in response to the comparison. The from field may be the “FROM: . . . ” field of an email message provided to identify a sender of the email message.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of authenticating an electronic mail, the method including:
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parsing a “
received”
field of a header of the electronic mail to identify actual domain name data included in the header at a server receiving the electronic mail from a mail client;parsing the header to obtain purported sender data included in the header of the electronic mail; comparing the actual domain name data and purported sender data; generating an authenticity indicator in response to the comparison, the authenticity indicator providing an indication of the likelihood that the electronic mail was sent from a purported sender of the electronic mail; and presenting the authenticity indicator to the recipient of the electronic mail. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A machine-readable medium embodying a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine execute a method of authenticating an electronic mail, the method including:
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parsing a “
received”
field of a header of the electronic mail to identify actual domain name data included in the header at a server receiving the electronic mail from a mail client;parsing the header to obtain purported sender data included in the header of the electronic mail; comparing the actual domain name data and purported sender data; generating an authenticity indicator in response to the investigation, the authenticity indicator providing an indication of the likelihood that the electronic mail was sent from a purported sender of the electronic mail; and presenting the authenticity indicator to the recipient of the electronic mail. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A mail server for authenticating electronic mail communicated between the mail server and at least one client device, the mail server including:
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a communication interface for communicating with the at least one client device; a processor; and memory which includes a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to; parse a “
received”
field of a header of the electronic mail to identify actual domain name data included in the header at a server receiving the electronic mail from a mail client;parse the header to obtain purported sender data included in the header of the electronic mail; compare the actual domain name data and purported sender data; and generate an authenticity indicator in response to the comparison, the authenticity indicator being presentable to a recipient of the electronic mail to provide an indication of the likelihood that the electronic mail was sent from a purported sender of the electronic mail. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A mail server for authenticating electronic mail communicated between the mail server and at least one client device, the mail server including:
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means communication interface for communicating with the at least one client device; processor means; and means to store a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor means to; parse a “
received”
field of a header of the electronic mail to identify actual domain name data included in the header at a server receiving the electronic mail from a mail client;parse the header to obtain purported sender data included in the header of the electronic mail; compare the actual domain name data and purported sender data; and generate an authenticity indicator in response to the comparison, the authenticity indicator being presentable to a recipient of the electronic mail to provide an indication of the likelihood that the electronic mail was sent from a purported sender of the electronic mail.
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Specification