Mobile email protection for private computer networks

• US 9,049,169 B1
• Filed: 05/30/2013
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trend Micro Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trend Micro Inc.
• Inventors: Zhou, Yi, Ku, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZHAO, DON GORDON
• Application Number:
  US13/906,089
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: 726/11, 726/22, 726/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Email synchronization between a mobile device and a messaging server may be performed through a mobile email protection system. The mobile email protection system may parse network traffic for the email synchronization to retrieve an email element of an email. The mobile email protection system may scan the email element for protected content indicated in preconfigured compliance templates. The mobile email protection system may also scan the email element for prohibited content to prevent the prohibited content from being received by the messaging server.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a mobile client device running a mobile operating system;

a messaging server of a private computer network and being accessed by the mobile client device for email synchronization from outside the private computer network in accordance with an email synchronization protocol; and

a mobile email protection system through which network traffic for the email synchronization between the mobile client device and the messaging server goes through, the mobile email protection system parsing the network traffic to retrieve an email element from an email in the network traffic, comparing the email element to a plurality of monitored contents indicated in one of a plurality of preconfigured compliance templates to identify protected content, inspecting the network traffic for prohibited content that is being transmitted from the mobile client device to the private computer network by scanning the network traffic against a database or listing of monitored contents, blocking the email synchronization when the email element includes a monitored content in the plurality of monitored contents indicated in one of the plurality of preconfigured compliance templates and the mobile client device is not authorized to receive the protected content, and blocking the email synchronization to prevent the prohibited content from entering the private computer network when the network traffic includes a monitored content indicated in the database or listing of monitored contents.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of preconfigured compliance templates indicates protected contents for particular countries.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of preconfigured compliance templates indicates personally-identifiable information recognized in particular countries.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile client device comprises a smartphone.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile client device receives an encrypted and scanned file from the mobile email protection system.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the file is scanned for data loss prevention.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the file is scanned for computer viruses.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the email element comprises an attachment of the email.

9. A computer-implemented method performed by a mobile email protection system, the method comprising:

receiving in the mobile email protection system network traffic for email synchronization between a mobile client device that runs a mobile operating system and a messaging server, the messaging server being inside a private computer network and the mobile client device being outside the private computer network, the mobile email protection system being between the messaging server and the mobile client device;

parsing the network traffic to retrieve an email element of an email that is being synchronized between the mobile client device and the messaging server;

scanning the email element for monitored contents indicated in a preconfigured compliance template that identifies protected contents;

inspecting the network traffic for a prohibited content that is being transmitted from the mobile client device to the private computer network by scanning the network traffic against a database or listing of predetermined monitored contents;

blocking the email synchronization to prevent the prohibited content from entering the private computer network when the network traffic includes a monitored content indicated in the database or listing of predetermined monitored contents;

and

blocking the email synchronization when the email element includes a monitored content indicated in the preconfigured compliance template.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the preconfigured compliance templates indicates protected contents for a particular country.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the preconfigured compliance template indicates personally-identifiable information recognized in the particular country.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the mobile client device comprises a smartphone.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing the mobile client device an encrypted and scanned file.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the file is scanned for data loss prevention.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the file is scanned for computer viruses.

16. A system comprising:

a messaging server in a private computer network;

a mobile client device that is outside the private computer network, the mobile client device running a mobile operating system and performing email synchronization with the messaging server to receive an email from the private computer network and to transfer data to the private computer network; and

a mobile email protection system receiving network traffic for the email synchronization between the messaging server and the mobile client device, the mobile email protection system parsing the network traffic for the email and scanning the email for a plurality of monitored contents, inspecting the network traffic for prohibited content that is prohibited from entering the private computer network by scanning the network traffic against a database or listing of predetermined monitored contents, blocking the email synchronization when the email includes a protected content included in the plurality of monitored contents, and blocking the email synchronization to prevent the prohibited content from entering the private computer network when the network traffic includes a monitored content in the database or listing of monitored contents.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the protected content is indicated in one of a plurality of preconfigured compliance templates.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the plurality of preconfigured compliance templates are for particular countries.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the mobile client device comprises a smartphone.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the mobile client device is performing the email synchronization with the messaging server to send an outgoing email and the mobile email protection system scans the outgoing email for the protected content.