Message auditing

• US 7,908,330 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SonicWALL, Inc. (SonicWall Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Oliver, Jonathan J., Uyeda, Damon K., Nufire, Tim, Wilson, Brian K., Eikenberry, Scott D., Koblas, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain; Tauqir
• Application Number:
  US11/927,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20080104188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,233 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for registering a email sender for the purpose of sending an email message to an email receiver including receiving a challenge message wherein the challenge message includes a machine answerable question; processing the challenge message to determine that it is a challenge message sent for the purpose of authorizing delivery of the email message; analyzing the question to determine a valid response to the challenge message; and sending the valid response that includes the answer wherein a nontrivial amount of resources are required to send the valid response.

Claims

1. A method for auditing a message, the method comprising:

adjusting a difficulty of a challenge;

sending the adjusted challenge to a sender of the message, the sending of the adjusted challenge initiated by a mail server associated with a receiver of the message;

receiving a response from the sender of the message at an auditing server, the response including an answer to the adjusted challenge, the challenge initiated by a mail server associated with a receiver of the message;

auditing the response at the auditing server to locate the answer to the adjusted challenge, wherein auditing the response includes detecting that the answer fits a pattern of response found in a plurality of previously received answers, each previously received answer associated with a previously received message;

generating a report, the report indicating results corresponding to auditing the answer to the adjusted challenge; and

sending the report from the auditing server to the mail server associated with the receiver subsequent to generating the report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein auditing the response further includes parsing the response to locate the answer to the adjusted challenge.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes a message identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifier includes one or more of an e-mail address, a domain name, an IP address, or any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein auditing the response further includes locating the identifier in the response.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the response includes receiving from the sender an identifier of the message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes a verification of the answer to the adjusted challenge as a correct answer to the adjusted challenge.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein auditing the response further includes classifying the message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein classifying the message includes authorizing delivery of the message to a recipient associated with the mail receiver.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending information to the mail receiver indicating that the message is an unsolicited junk message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes a status of an address of the sender.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein auditing the response further includes determining whether the sender is a sender of unsolicited junk messages.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

classifying the message upon detecting the pattern; and

communicating the classification of the message to the receiver.

14. An apparatus configured to audit a message, the apparatus comprising:

a memory;

a network interface configured to receive a message over a communications network; and

a processor configured to execute software stored in the memory to;

adjust a difficulty of a challenge;

send the adjusted challenge to a sender of the message, the sending of the adjusted challenge initiated by a mail server associated with a receiver of the message,

receive a response from the sender of the message, the response including an answer to the adjusted challenge;

audit the response to locate the answer to the adjusted challenge, wherein auditing the response includes detecting that the answer fits a pattern of response found in a plurality of previously received answers, each previously received answer associated with a previously received message;

generate a report, the report indicating results corresponding to auditing the answer to the challenge; and

send the report to the receiver subsequent to generating the report.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a computer to perform a method for auditing a message, the method comprising:

adjusting a difficulty of a challenge;

sending the adjusted challenge to a sender of the message, the sending of the adjusted challenge initiated by a receiver of the message;

receiving a response from the sender of the message, the response including an answer to the adjusted challenge;

auditing the response to locate the answer to the adjusted challenge, wherein auditing the response includes detecting that the answer fits a pattern of response found in a plurality of previously received answers, each previously received answer associated with a previously received message;

generating a report, the report indicating results corresponding to auditing the answer to the adjusted challenge; and

sending the report to the receiver subsequent to generating the report.