System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail

• US 7,853,989 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2005
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cufer Asset Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC), Peter L. Katsikas
• Original Assignee: Peter L. Katsikas
• Inventors: Katsikas, Peter L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman; Brandon S
• Application Number:
  US11/080,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20050188045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,101 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/3
• 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 63/0281 Proxies

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 comprising:

receiving, via an Internet email-sending protocol from an email-sending server, a first email message to an email-receiving server identifying a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient for an email attempted to be sent by the email-sending server to the email-receiving server;

maintaining for each of at least a portion of a plurality of recipients whose email-receiving is handled by the email-receiving server those authorized sender addresses that are authorized to send email to said recipient;

checking whether the identified sender address for the first email message is included among those authorized sender addresses for the identified recipient; and

in response to the sender address identified in the first email message not being recognized as one of those authorized sender addresses for the recipient, sending via the Internet email-sending protocol from the email-receiving server to the email-sending server a second email message rejecting the sending of the first email message to the email-receiving server, wherein the email-sending server is prevented from sending the first email message to the email-receiving server under the Internet email-sending protocol.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the email-receiving server maintains an ASL database for maintaining ASL lists of authorized sender addresses for respective recipients whose email-receiving is handled by the email-receiving server, and an ASL manager for maintaining the ASL lists on said ASL database.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in the event of sending the second email message rejecting the email, sending a redirection email to the sender address identified in the first email message of the email-sending server containing a message requesting the sender to validate their sender address as one to be authorized to send email to the identified recipient, by visiting a validation web page and performing a validation step thereon.

4. A method according to claim 3, further comprising:

in the event of sending a redirection email, sending a validation message to the email-receiving server to add the sender address to the ASL list for the identified recipient as one to be authorized to send email to the recipient, wherein the previously-rejected sender address can then be accepted by the email-receiving server on email intended for the recipient.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the validation requires the sender to perform a test that can only be performed by a human.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the validation includes a display of a graphic image including a word embedded therein, and a prompt to the sender to identify the word embedded in the graphic image.

7. A method according to claim 2, wherein said ASL manager monitors email sent by the recipient to external email addresses and automatically adds the external email addresses to the recipient'"'"'s ASL list as authorized sender addresses.

8. A method according to claim 2, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing inputs from the recipients'"'"' browsing of web sites.

9. A method according to claim 2, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing potential authorized sender addresses with fuzzy logic analysis.

10. A method according to claim 2, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing one or more of the types of sender-address statuses selected from the group consisting of:

always authorized;

authorized for a date range;

authorized before an expiration date;

always rejected as a spammer;

rejected as a spammer matching a black list; and

rejected as a spammer when sent a reject message and failed to perform the validation step.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing recipient contact lists.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing input received from an authorized third party.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists in a manner responsive to a recipient dragging an e-mail address and dropping it on a visual indication of an authorized senders list.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing authorized sender addresses to determine whether expiration dates associated with a least some of the authorized sender addresses have been reached.

15. The method of claim 2 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing potential authorized sender addresses in accordance with a third-party analyzer plug-in.

16. A method comprising:

receiving via an Internet email-sending protocol an email-sending server a first email message to an email-receiving server identifying a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient for an email attempted to be sent by the email-sending server to the email-receiving server;

maintaining for each of at least a portion of a plurality of recipients whose email-receiving is handled by the email-receiving server those not-authorized sender addresses that are not authorized to send email to said recipient;

checking whether the identified sender address for the first email message is included among those not-authorized sender addresses for the identified recipient; and

in response to the sender address identified in the first email message being one of those not-authorized sender addresses for the recipient, sending via the Internet email-sending protocol the email-receiving server to the email-sending server a second email message rejecting the sending of the first email message to the email-receiving server, wherein the email-sending server is prevented from sending the first email message to the email-receiving server under the Internet email-sending protocol.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the email-receiving server maintains an ASL database for maintaining ASL lists of not-authorized sender addresses for respective recipients whose email-receiving is handled by the email-receiving server, and an ASL manager for maintaining the ASL lists on said ASL database.

18. A method according to claim 17, further comprising:

in the event of sending the second email message rejecting the email, sending a redirection email to the sender address identified in the first email message of the email-sending server containing a message requesting the sender to validate their sender address as one to be authorized to send email to the identified recipient, by visiting a validation web page and performing a validation step thereon.

19. A method according to claim 18, further comprising:

in the event of the sender, sending a validation message to the email-receiving server to delete the sender address from the ASL list for the identified recipient as one not-authorized to send email to the recipient, wherein the previously-rejected sender address can then be accepted by the email-receiving server on email intended for the recipient.

20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the validation requires the sender to perform a test that can only be performed by a human.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the validation includes a display of a graphic image including a word embedded therein, and a prompt to the sender to identify the word embedded in the graphic image.

22. A method according to claim 17, wherein said ASL manager monitors email marked by the recipient as spam email and automatically adds the spam email addresses to the recipient'"'"'s ASL list as not-authorized sender addresses.

23. A method according to claim 17, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing inputs from the recipients'"'"' browsing of web sites.

24. A method according to claim 17, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing potential authorized sender addresses with fuzzy logic analysis.

25. A method according to claim 17, wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing one or more of the types of sender-address statuses selected from the group consisting of:

always authorized;

authorized for a date range;

authorized before an expiration date;

always rejected as a spammer;

rejected as a spammer matching a black list; and

rejected as a spammer when sent a reject message and failed to perform the validation step.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing recipient contact lists.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing input received from an authorized third party.

28. The method of claim 17 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists by analyzing potential non-authorized sender addresses in accordance with a third-party analyzer plug-in.

29. The method of claim 17 wherein the ASL manager maintains the ASL lists in a manner responsive to a recipient dragging an e-mail address and dropping it on a visual indication of a non-authorized senders list.

30. The method of claim 16 wherein the second email message indicates that the recipient address identified by the first email message does not exist.

31. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive via an Internet email-sending protocol from an email-sending server a first email message to an email-receiving server identifying a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient for an email attempted to be sent by the email-sending server to the email-receiving server;

instructions to maintain for each of at least a portion of a plurality of recipients whose email-receiving is handled by the email-receiving server those authorized sender addresses that are authorized to send email to said recipient;

instructions to check whether the identified sender address for the first email message is included among those authorized sender addresses for the identified recipient; and

instructions to send via the Internet email-sending protocol from the email-receiving server to the email-sending server a second email message rejecting the sending of the first email message to the email-receiving server if the sender address identified in the first email message is not recognized as being one of those authorized sender addresses for the recipient, wherein the email-sending server is prevented from sending the first email message to the email-receiving server under the Internet email-sending protocol.