Detecting unintended recipients of electronic communications

• US 8,892,672 B1
• Filed: 01/28/2014
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FMR LLC
• Original Assignee: FMR LLC
• Inventors: Rackliffe, Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Recek, Jason
• Application Number:
  US14/166,055
• Time in Patent Office: 294 Days
• Field of Search: 709206-207
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, including receiving information indicative of a request to send an electronic communication to a recipient; executing by one or more computer systems one or more validation operations to determine whether the recipient is an intended recipient of the electronic communication by producing a validation score; determining, based on comparison of the validation score to a threshold value, that the recipient is an unintended recipient of the electronic communication; and when detecting the recipient as an unintended recipient, notifying the sender that the recipient is potentially an unintended recipient of the electronic communication prior to sending.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving information indicative of a request to send an electronic communication to a recipient;

executing by one or more computer systems one or more validation operations to determine whether the recipient is an intended recipient of the electronic communication by producing a validation score, wherein the validation score is a recipient distance value and at least one of the one or more validation operations comprises;

accessing hierarchical information, with an item of hierarchical information representing an entity, with the hierarchical information representing relationships among entities, and with the recipient and a sender of the electronic communication being represented in the hierarchical information;

identifying, by one or more computer systems in the accessed hierarchical information, a sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and a recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

calculating by the one or more computer systems the recipient distance value between the sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and the recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

determining, by the one or more computer systems based on the recipient distance value, whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is an outlier with an increased amount of distance to the sender item of hierarchical information, relative to other distances of other items of hierarchical information to the sender item of hierarchical information;

determining, based on comparison of the validation score to a threshold value, that the recipient is an unintended recipient of the electronic communication; and

when detecting the recipient as an unintended recipient,

notifying the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient of the electronic communication.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is the outlier comprises:

determining whether the recipient distance value exceeds a threshold distance value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient distance value is a weighted value, and wherein the method further comprises:

identifying an edge in a graph between a node representing the user and a node representing the recipient;

determining a weight associated with the edge; and

calculating the recipient distance value based on the weight.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is a determined outlier;

updating a graphical user interface that displays on a display device associated with the sender information indicative of a name of the recipient, with the updated graphical user interface causing the information indicative of the name of the recipient to change from a first color to a second color to notify the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is not determined to be an outlier;

causing the electronic communication to be sent to the recipient.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical information comprises one or more of:

(i) a global address list;

(ii) Lightweight Directory Access Protocol information; and

(iii) a social network graph of a social networking platform, wherein a node in the social network graph represents the sender and wherein another node in the social network graph represents the recipient.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the recipient distance value comprises a degree of separation value.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical information comprises one or more of:

information specifying an arrangement of nodes that specify users of a social networking platform and information specifying relationships among the nodes; and

information specifying an arrangement of nodes that represents employees of an entity and information specifying a hierarchy of the nodes.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more validation operations comprises:

determining whether information representing the recipient is included in a pre-approved recipient list.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more validation operations comprises:

determining whether information representing the recipient is included in a list that specifies entities to whom the sender previously sent electronic communications.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein notifying comprises:

causing a sender of the electronic communication to be prompted to confirm sending of the electronic communication to the recipient.

12. One or more machine-readable hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable to cause one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

receiving information indicative of a request to send an electronic communication to a recipient;

executing one or more validation operations to determine whether the recipient is an intended recipient of the electronic communication by producing a validation score, wherein the validation score is a recipient distance value and at least one of the one or more validation operations comprises;

accessing hierarchical information, with an item of hierarchical information representing an entity, with the hierarchical information representing relationships among entities, and with the recipient and a sender of the electronic communication being represented in the hierarchical information;

identifying, in the accessed hierarchical information, a sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and a recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

calculating the recipient distance value between the sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and the recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

determining, based on the recipient distance value, whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is an outlier with an increased amount of distance to the sender item of hierarchical information, relative to other distances of other items of hierarchical information to the sender item of hierarchical information;

determining, based on comparison of the validation score to a threshold value, that the recipient is an unintended recipient of the electronic communication; and

when detecting the recipient as an unintended recipient,

notifying the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient of the electronic communication.

13. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein determining whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is the outlier comprises:

determining whether the recipient distance value exceeds a threshold distance value.

14. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the recipient distance value is a weighted value, and wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying an edge in a graph between a node representing the user and a node representing the recipient;

determining a weight associated with the edge; and

calculating the recipient distance value based on the weight.

15. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is a determined outlier;

updating a graphical user interface that displays on a display device associated with the sender information indicative of a name of the recipient, with the updated graphical user interface causing the information indicative of the name of the recipient to change from a first color to a second color to notify the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient.

16. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is not determined to be an outlier;

causing the electronic communication to be sent to the recipient.

17. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the hierarchical information comprises one or more of:

(i) a global address list;

(ii) Lightweight Directory Access Protocol information; and

(iii) a social network graph of a social networking platform, wherein a node in the social network graph represents the sender and wherein another node in the social network graph represents the recipient.

18. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the recipient distance value comprises a degree of separation value.

19. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein the hierarchical information comprises one or more of:

information specifying an arrangement of nodes that specify users of a social networking platform and information specifying relationships among the nodes; and

information specifying an arrangement of nodes that represents employees of an entity and information specifying a hierarchy of the nodes.

20. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein one of the one or more validation operations comprises:

determining whether information representing the recipient is included in a pre-approved recipient list.

21. The one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices of claim 12, wherein one of the one or more validation operations comprises:

determining whether information representing the recipient is included in a list that specifies entities to whom the sender previously sent electronic communications.

22. A system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more machine-readable hardware storage devices storing instructions that are executable to cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising;

receiving information indicative of a request to send an electronic communication to a recipient;

executing one or more validation operations to determine whether the recipient is an intended recipient of the electronic communication by producing a validation score, wherein the validation score is a recipient distance value and at least one of the one or more validation operations comprises;

accessing hierarchical information, with an item of hierarchical information representing an entity, with the hierarchical information representing relationships among entities, and with the recipient and a sender of the electronic communication being represented in the hierarchical information;

identifying, in the accessed hierarchical information, a sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and a recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

calculating the recipient distance value between the sender item of hierarchical information that represents the sender and the recipient item of hierarchical information that represents the recipient;

determining, based on the recipient distance value, whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is an outlier with an increased amount of distance to the sender item of hierarchical information, relative to other distances of other items of hierarchical information to the sender item of hierarchical information;

determining, based on comparison of the validation score to a threshold value, that the recipient is an unintended recipient of the electronic communication; and

when detecting the recipient as an unintended recipient,

notifying the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient of the electronic communication.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein determining whether the recipient item of hierarchical information is the outlier comprises:

determining whether the recipient distance value exceeds a threshold distance value.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the recipient distance value is a weighted value, and wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying an edge in a graph between a node representing the user and a node representing the recipient;

determining a weight associated with the edge; and

calculating the recipient distance value based on the weight.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is a determined outlier;

updating a graphical user interface that displays on a display device associated with the sender information indicative of a name of the recipient, with the updated graphical user interface causing the information indicative of the name of the recipient to change from a first color to a second color to notify the sender that the recipient is the unintended recipient.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise:

when the recipient item of hierarchical information is not determined to be an outlier;

causing the electronic communication to be sent to the recipient.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the hierarchical information comprises one or more of:

(i) a global address list;

(ii) Lightweight Directory Access Protocol information; and

(iii) a social network graph of a social networking platform, wherein a node in the social network graph represents the sender and wherein another node in the social network graph represents the recipient.