System and method for authenticating at least a portion of an e-mail message

• US 8,132,011 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gasparini, Louis A, Harris, William H
• Primary Examiner(s): Shan, April
• Application Number:
  US11/112,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20050268101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,510 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 713/170, 713/178, 709/237, 705/75, 726/4, 380/246, 380/255
• US Class Current: 713/170
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

A system and method allows some or all of an e-mail message, such as the sender or its contents, to be authenticated, for example, to identify a message as potential spam.

Claims

1. A method of providing an outgoing e-mail message, comprising the steps of:

responsive to a sender identifying a recipient to whom the outgoing e-mail message is to be sent, the sender retrieving customization information corresponding to the recipient, the customization information having been previously received by the sender from the recipient, the customization information being known to the recipient and the sender, but not otherwise associated with the recipient by general public;

the sender signing the retrieved customization information with information corresponding to the sender; and

the sender sending the retrieved customization information and the signed customization information to the recipient in the outgoing e-mail message, the recipient thereby receiving the customization information previously received by the sender from the recipient and signed by the sender;

wherein the steps are performed at least in part by at least one processor coupled to at least one memory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the customization information is selected by the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the customization information comprises a text phrase.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

signing timestamp information with information corresponding to the sender of the e-mail message; and

sending the signed timestamp information with the e-mail message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the e-mail message prior to the sending step.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the sender sending the retrieved customization information and the signed customization information to the recipient in the outgoing e-mail message comprises the sender sending the retrieved customization information and the signed customization information to the recipient in at least one X-Header of the outgoing e-mail message.

2. A method of receiving an e-mail message, comprising the steps of:

a recipient receiving from a sender the e-mail message;

the recipient processing the e-mail message responsive to;

a content and existence of customization information corresponding to the recipient; and

a signature made by the sender responsive to the customization information with information corresponding to the sender;

the customization information and the signature having been sent by the sender to the recipient in the e-mail message responsive to the sender identifying the recipient of the e-mail message, the customization information having been previously provided by the recipient to the sender, the recipient thereby receiving in the e-mail message the customization information previously received by the sender from the recipient and signed by the sender, the customization information being known to the recipient and the sender, but not otherwise associated with the recipient by general public;

wherein the steps are performed at least in part by at least one processor coupled to at least one memory.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the customization information is selected by the recipient.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the customization information comprises a text phrase.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the e-mail message set is processed further responsive to timestamp information included with the e-mail message.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

computing a difference between the timestamp information included with the e-mail message and a current time;

accepting the e-mail message only if the computed difference is below a threshold value.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accepting the e-mail message if the customization information included in the e-mail message matches at least a portion of a given set of customization information; and

classifying the e-mail message based at least in part on which portion of the given set of customization information is matched by the customization information included in the e-mail message.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the customization information and the signature were sent by the sender to the recipient in at least one X-Header of the e-mail message responsive to the sender identifying the recipient of the e-mail message.

12. An apparatus for providing an outgoing e-mail message, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being operative to;

responsive to identifying a recipient to whom the outgoing e-mail message is to be sent, retrieve customization information corresponding to the recipient, the customization information having been previously received from the recipient;

sign the retrieved customization information with information corresponding to a sender of the e-mail message; and

send the retrieved customization information and the signed customization information in the outgoing e-mail message from the sender to the recipient, the recipient thereby receiving in the e-mail message the customization information previously received by the sender from the recipient and signed by the sender, the customization information being known to the recipient and the sender, but not otherwise associated with the recipient by general public.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the customization information is supplied to the sender by the recipient.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the customization information comprises a text phrase selected by the recipient.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further operative to:

sign timestamp information with information corresponding to the sender of the e-mail message; and

send the signed timestamp information with the e-mail message.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further operative to:

receive the e-mail message from a given apparatus prior to the sending operation.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the given apparatus is associated with the sender.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is operative to send the retrieved customization information and the signed customization information in at least one X-Header of the outgoing e-mail message from the sender to the recipient.