Perimeter message filtering with extracted user-specific preferences

• US 8,028,026 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Waddoups, Nathan F., Tribble, Eric D., Jain, Chandresh K., Costea, Mihai, Pearson, Malcolm E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele; Krista M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lindsey; Matthew S
• Application Number:
  US11/421,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20070282953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,945 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Propagating messaging preferences of one or more users from a recipient mailbox to a perimeter network administering e-mail content blocking and routing. A content filtering application located outside a trusted network receives messaging preferences information from within the trusted network regarding the mail recipients. This messaging preferences information may be utilized to allow certain pre-authorized messages from particular senders to bypass content filtering. Moreover, the messaging preferences information may be hashed to further protect the information on the perimeter network and to speed in review and comparison of the messaging preferences information. In addition, other types of user-specific information may be propagated to the perimeter network for use with other applications other than messaging.

Claims

1. A method for utilizing recipient-specific messaging preferences of messaging recipients residing in a trusted network to bypass content filtering of preferred incoming messages corresponding to each of the recipients as the messages are received in a perimeter network outside the trusted network, said method comprising:

extracting recipient-specific messaging preferences from one or more mailboxes associated with each of the message recipients residing in the trusted network, said trusted network being separated from the perimeter network by at least one interior firewall;

hashing at least two portions of at least one of the extracted recipient-specific messaging preferences using a hashing function;

populating the hashed recipient-specific messaging preferences into a distributed directory service administered on at least one server in the trusted network;

propagating the hashed recipient-specific messaging preferences from said distributed directory service to a stand-alone directory service administered on at least one edge server in the perimeter network via the interior firewall, said perimeter network being separate from and outside the trusted network, wherein the perimeter network and a network outside the perimeter network are separated by at least one outer firewall;

providing the hashed messaging preferences information from the stand-alone directory service to a content filter residing in the perimeter network;

excluding preferred messages identified by the provided hashed messaging preferences from content scanning by the content filter;

querying the one or more mailboxes associated with each of the messaging recipients to determine if recipient-specific messaging preferences stored in the stand-alone directory service are different than those populated on the distributed directory service; and

repeating the extracting, populating, propagating, and providing when it is determined that the messaging preferences stored in the stand-alone directory service have changed.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising sending the preferred messages excluded from content scanning to the trusted network for delivery to respective mailbox servers servicing each respective recipient.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising filtering non-preferred messages for appropriate content.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said extracting messaging preferences comprises extracting at least one of sender addresses from a safe sender list, domain names from a safe domain list, and contact addresses from a contact list.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said extracting messaging preferences comprises extracting electronic mail rules for sorting through received e-mail to identify potential junk e-mail, said electronic mail rules stored at the one or more mailboxes residing in the trusted network.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising hashing at least a portion of the sender information of any received message.

7. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein said hashing occurs at mailbox servers servicing multiple respective recipients.

8. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein said hashing occurs at individual recipient mailboxes.

9. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein said excluding preferred messages identified by the messaging preferences comprises excluding messages whose sender hash matches a hash of the preferred messaging preferences of the intended recipient.

10. A method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising sorting the hashes by value for faster searching of the hashes.

11. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said querying is undertaken at regular intervals.

12. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said excluding preferred messages comprises excluding messages from senders identified in the messaging preferences.

13. A method for securely transferring user information from a trusted network of computing devices for use in controlling an application executing outside the trusted network of computing devices, said method comprising:

extracting user-specific information from mailboxes associated with users residing in the trusted network of computing devices, said user-specific information including user-specific messaging preferences, said trusted network being separated from a perimeter network by at least one interior firewall;

hashing at least two portions of the user-specific information extracted from the users using a hashing function;

populating the hashed user-specific information into a distributed directory service administered on at least one server in the trusted network; and

propagating the hashed user-specific information from said distributed directory service to a stand-alone directory service administered on at least one edge server in the perimeter network via the interior firewall said perimeter network being separate from and outside the trusted network, wherein the perimeter network and a network outside the perimeter network are separated by at least one outer firewall; and

propagating the hashed information to a third party outside the trusted network, said third party adapted for utilizing the hashed user-specific information to control an application outside the trusted network.