Systems and methods for preventing spam
First Claim
1. A spam-prevention method, comprising:
- receiving, at an exchange entity for a recipient, an electronic message that includes a source address associated with a sender and a dynamic tag, wherein the dynamic tag includes a first dynamic code and a counter;
locating a hashing function and a secret key;
determining a second dynamic code using at least the hashing function, the secret key, and the counter of the dynamic tag;
verifying the dynamic tag by matching the first dynamic code of the dynamic tag to the second dynamic code; and
accepting the electronic message to an account of the recipient upon verifying at least the dynamic tag,wherein the sender is a non-qualified sender, wherein the dynamic tag is a dynamic passcode, wherein locating the hashing function and the secret key includes locating a system hashing function and a system key, and wherein the dynamic passcode is obtained by the non-qualified sender manually querying a public dynamic passcode provider,wherein the dynamic passcode provider is a Web server, and querying the dynamic passcode provider includes the non-qualified sender entering at least a static email address of the recipient and completing a human interactive proof, wherein the dynamic passcode is generated by the dynamic passcode provider applying the system hashing function to a concatenated string comprising at least a portion of the static email address of the recipient, the system key, and an incremental counter associated with the recipient,wherein the prior steps are performed by one or more computers.
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Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for preventing spam, including email spam and telephone spam, through the use of dynamic passcodes or dynamic signatures included with transmitted messages. Both the dynamic passcodes and dynamic signatures may be changed periodically or continually, according to an example embodiment of the invention. Qualified senders may include a dynamic signature that is automatically generated by the sender'"'"'s node or exchange entity. The recipient'"'"'s node or exchange entity can then use a graylist associated with the recipient account in verifying the qualified sender and/or dynamic signature. On the other hand, non-qualified senders may need to manually obtain a dynamic passcode from a dynamic passcode provider and include the dynamic passcode with the transmitted message. The dynamic passcode provider may be a public website using human interactive proofs. According to an embodiment, a non-qualified sender may be optionally pre-charged with a fee to obtain a dynamic passcode. The recipient of the message may then refund the charge if the received message is not spam.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A spam-prevention method, comprising:
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receiving, at an exchange entity for a recipient, an electronic message that includes a source address associated with a sender and a dynamic tag, wherein the dynamic tag includes a first dynamic code and a counter; locating a hashing function and a secret key; determining a second dynamic code using at least the hashing function, the secret key, and the counter of the dynamic tag; verifying the dynamic tag by matching the first dynamic code of the dynamic tag to the second dynamic code; and accepting the electronic message to an account of the recipient upon verifying at least the dynamic tag, wherein the sender is a non-qualified sender, wherein the dynamic tag is a dynamic passcode, wherein locating the hashing function and the secret key includes locating a system hashing function and a system key, and wherein the dynamic passcode is obtained by the non-qualified sender manually querying a public dynamic passcode provider, wherein the dynamic passcode provider is a Web server, and querying the dynamic passcode provider includes the non-qualified sender entering at least a static email address of the recipient and completing a human interactive proof, wherein the dynamic passcode is generated by the dynamic passcode provider applying the system hashing function to a concatenated string comprising at least a portion of the static email address of the recipient, the system key, and an incremental counter associated with the recipient, wherein the prior steps are performed by one or more computers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system, comprising:
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a memory for storing data and computer-executable instructions; a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is operative to execute the computer-executable instructions to; receive an electronic message addressed to a recipient, wherein the electronic message includes a source address associated with a sender and a dynamic tag, wherein the dynamic tag includes a first dynamic code and a counter; retrieve a hashing function and a secret key stored in the memory; compute a second dynamic code using at least the hashing function, the secret key, and the counter of the dynamic tag; verify the dynamic tag by matching the first dynamic code of the dynamic tag to the computed second dynamic code; and accept the electronic message to an account of the recipient upon verifying at least the dynamic tag, wherein the sender is a non-qualified sender, wherein the dynamic tag is a dynamic passcode, wherein the processor is operative to retrieve a system hashing function and a system key as the respective hashing function and the secret key, wherein the dynamic passcode is obtained by the non-qualified sender manually querying a public dynamic passcode provider, wherein the dynamic passcode provider is a Web server, and querying the dynamic passcode provider includes the non-qualified sender entering at least a static email address of the recipient and completing a human interactive proof, wherein the dynamic passcode is generated by the dynamic passcode provider applying the system hashing function to a concatenated string comprising at least a portion of the static email address of the recipient, the system key, and an incremental counter associated with the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A spam-prevention method, comprising:
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receiving, at an exchange entity for a recipient, an electronic message that includes a source address associated with a sender and a dynamic tag, wherein the dynamic tag includes a first dynamic code and a first counter; locating a hashing function and a secret key; determining a second dynamic code using at least the hashing function, the secret key, and the first counter of the dynamic tag; verifying the dynamic tag by matching the first dynamic code of the dynamic tag to the second dynamic code; accepting the electronic message to an account of the recipient upon verifying at least the dynamic tag, wherein the sender is a non-qualified sender, wherein the dynamic tag is a dynamic passcode, wherein locating the hashing function and the secret key includes locating a system hashing function and a system key, and wherein the dynamic passcode is obtained by the non-qualified sender manually querying a public dynamic passcode provider, and transmit, to the dynamic passcode provider, the system key, the system hashing function, and an identification of recipient accounts at the exchange entity, wherein the dynamic passcode provider generates dynamic passcodes based upon queries of a static destination email addresses that corresponds to recipient accounts at the exchange entity, wherein the dynamic passcodes are based at least in part upon the system key, the system hashing function and a second counter stored in association with the static destination email address.
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23. A system, comprising:
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a memory for storing data and computer-executable instructions; a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is operative to execute the computer-executable instructions to; receive an electronic message addressed to a recipient, wherein the electronic message includes a source address associated with a sender and a dynamic tag, wherein the dynamic tag includes a first dynamic code and a counter; retrieve a hashing function and a secret key stored in the memory; compute a second dynamic code using at least the hashing function, the secret key, and the counter of the dynamic tag; verify the dynamic tag by matching the first dynamic code of the dynamic tag to the computed second dynamic code; accept the electronic message to an account of the recipient upon verifying at least the dynamic tag, wherein the sender is a non-qualified sender, wherein the dynamic tag is a dynamic passcode, wherein the processor is operative to retrieve a system hashing function and a system key as the respective hashing function and the secret key, wherein the dynamic passcode is obtained by the non-qualified sender manually querying a public dynamic passcode provider; and transmit, to the dynamic passcode provider, the system key, the system hashing function, and an identification of recipient accounts at the exchange entity, wherein the dynamic passcode provider generates dynamic passcodes based upon queries of a static destination email addresses that corresponds to recipient accounts at the exchange entity, wherein the dynamic passcodes are based at least in part upon the system key, the system hashing function and a second counter stored in association with the static destination email address.
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Specification