Method and apparatus for selective email processing

• US 8,224,902 B1
• Filed: 02/03/2005
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Glasser, Alan L., Lucas, John F., Spear, Steven W., Velez-Kohler, Laura
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaw, Peling
• Assistant Examiner(s): Richardson, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US11/050,090
• Time in Patent Office: 2,721 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for selective email processing. A traffic separator includes an interface for receiving electronic mail traffic from a source network address. The traffic separator also includes a processor for comparing the source network address to a stored list of network addresses to determine a categorization of the network source address. The traffic separator also includes at least one interface for forwarding the electronic mail traffic to one of many message transfer agents (MTAs) based upon said determination. A database stores the list of network addresses. In one embodiment, one or more network addresses in the stored list are network address ranges.

Claims

1. A method for processing electronic mail comprising:

receiving at a network interface electronic mail traffic;

inspecting, at a processor, an internet protocol header of the electronic mail traffic to determine a source network address associated with the electronic mail traffic;

identifying the source network address as an untrusted source, based on comparing the source network address to a stored list of network addresses and based on a threshold and a percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic;

assigning a trust level to the source network address, wherein the trust level is selected from a plurality of trust levels and is assigned based on the electronic mail traffic, the stored list of network addresses, the threshold and the percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic;

identifying one of a plurality of message transfer agents, each of the plurality of message transfer agents having an amount of resources, wherein the resources allow for each of the plurality of message transfer agents to be configured to performance levels associated with the plurality of trust levels, the identifying based on the trust level assigned to the source network address and an amount of resources of the one of the plurality of message transfer agents;

wherein the resources comprise a number of transmission control protocol connections;

in response to identifying of the source network address as an untrusted source, forwarding the electronic mail traffic to the one of a plurality of message transfer agents; and

performing virus filtering on the electronic mail traffic, wherein an amount of filtering performed on the electronic mail traffic is based on the trust level.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of network addresses comprises network address ranges.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising further processing of the electronic mail traffic after the forwarding.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising forwarding the electronic mail traffic to a message store infrastructure after the further processing.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the source network address as an untrusted source comprises determining an unknown level of trust when the source network address is missing from the stored list of network addresses.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the stored list of network addresses is updated adaptively based on feedback from a message transfer agent of the plurality of message transfer agents.

7. A traffic separator comprising:

means for receiving electronic mail traffic from a source network address;

means for storing a list of network addresses;

means for inspecting an internet protocol header of the electronic mail traffic to determine a source network address associated with the electronic mail traffic;

means for identifying the source network address as an untrusted source, based on comparing the source network address to the list of network addresses and based on a threshold and a percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic;

means for assigning a trust level to the source network address, wherein the trust level is selected from a plurality of trust levels and is assigned based on the electronic mail traffic, the stored list of network addresses, the threshold and the percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic;

means for identifying one of a plurality of message transfer agents, each of the plurality of message transfer agents having an amount of resources, wherein the resources allow for each of the plurality of message transfer agents to be configured to performance levels associated with the plurality of trust levels, the identifying based on the trust level assigned to the source network address and an amount of resources of the one of the plurality of message transfer agents;

wherein the resources comprise a number of transmission control protocol connections;

means for forwarding the electronic mail traffic to the one of a plurality of message transfer agents, the forwarding in response to the identifying of the source network address as an untrusted source; and

means for performing virus filtering on the electronic mail traffic, wherein an amount of filtering performed on the electronic mail traffic is based on the trust level.

8. The traffic separator of claim 7 wherein the list of network addresses comprises network address ranges.

9. The traffic separator of claim 7 further comprising means for further processing of the electronic mail traffic.

10. The traffic separator of claim 9 further comprising means for forwarding the electronic mail traffic to a message store infrastructure after the further processing.

11. The traffic separator of claim 7 wherein the stored list of network addresses is updated adaptively based on feedback from a message transfer agent of the plurality of message transfer agents.

12. A traffic separator comprising:

an interface configured to receive electronic mail traffic from a source network address;

a database configured to store a list of network addresses;

a processor configured to inspect an internet protocol header of the electronic mail traffic to determine a source network address associated with the electronic mail traffic, the processor further configured to identify the source network address as an untrusted source, based on comparing the source network address to the list of network addresses and based on a threshold and a percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic, the processor further configured to assign a trust level to the source network address, wherein the trust level is selected from a plurality of trust levels and is assigned based on the electronic mail traffic, the stored list of network addresses, the threshold and the percentage of unknown recipients associated with the electronic mail traffic, the processor further configured to identify one of a plurality of message transfer agents, wherein each of the plurality of message transfer agents having an amount of resources, and wherein the resources allow for each of the plurality of message transfer agents to be configured to performance levels associated with the plurality of trust levels, based on the trust level assigned to the source network address and an amount of resources of the one of the plurality of message transfer agents;

wherein the resources comprise a number of transmission control protocol connections;

an interface configured to forward the electronic mail traffic to the one of a plurality of message transfer agents, the forwarding in response to the identifying the source network address as an untrusted source; and

a mail transfer agent configured to perform virus filtering on the electronic mail traffic, wherein an amount of filtering performed on the electronic mail traffic is based on the trust level.

13. The traffic separator of claim 12 wherein the stored list of network addresses comprises network address ranges.

14. The traffic separator of claim 12 wherein the stored list of network addresses is updated adaptively based on feedback from a message transfer agent of the plurality of message transfer agents.