System, method, and computer program product for security verification of communications to tenants of an on-demand database service

• US 9,059,981 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Cadden, Michael P., Stevens, Richard Alan, Kimble, Ron H., Mencke, Rasmus, Corson, Travis D., Shanabrook, Susan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nalven, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIELDS, COURTNEY D
• Application Number:
  US13/797,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20130191892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 726/5, 726/4, 726/11, 726/21, 726/26, 709/206, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for security verification of communications to tenants of an on-demand database service. These mechanisms and methods for security verification of communications to tenants of an on-demand database service can enable embodiments to allow tenants to selectively implement security measures with respect to inbound communications, etc. The ability of embodiments to provide such feature may allow tenants to efficiently and effectively implement security measures for in-bound emails.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing computer code adapted to be executed by a computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, through a service of a system having a processor and a memory, a communication destined to a first user of a plurality of users of the service;

performing, by the system, security checking of the communication by applying a plurality of security checks to the communication;

receiving, from each of the plurality of security checks, a code indicative of a result of the security check;

determining a return code that summarizes the received codes and indicates whether the communication passes the security checking;

delivering, through the service of the system, the communication to a first location that is a destination of the communication, when the return code indicates that the communication passes the security checking; and

directing, by the system, the communication to a second location specified for communications that do not pass the security checking, when the return code indicates that the communication fails the security checking.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising determining a security preference of the first user.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the return code indicates that the communication passes the security checking when at least one of the plurality of security checks indicates a pass.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the communication includes an email.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 4, wherein at least one of the security checks includes verifying at least a portion of an email address of a sender of the email.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the at least a portion of the email address of the sender is verified by comparing the at least a portion of the email address to information in a white list.

7. A method, comprising:

receiving, through a service of a system having a processor and memory, a communication destined to a first user of a plurality of users of the service;

performing, by the system, securing checking of the communication by applying a plurality of security checks to the communication;

receiving, from each of the security checks, a code indicative of a result of the security checks;

determining a return code that summarizes the received codes and indicates whether the communication passes the security checking;

delivering, through the service of the system, the communication to a first location that is a destination of the communication, when the return code indicates that the communication passes the security checking; and

directing, by the system, the communication to a second location specified for communications that do not pass the security checking, when the return code indicates that the communication fails the security checking.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a hardware processor of a system; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

receiving, through a service of the system having the processor and memory, a communication destined to a first user of a plurality of users of the service;

performing, by the system, securing checking of the communication by applying a plurality of security checks to the communication;

receiving, from each of the security checks, a code indicative of a result of the security check;

determining a return code that summarizes the received codes and indicates whether the communication passes the security checking;

delivering, through the service of the system, the communication to a first location that is a destination of the communication, when the return code indicates that the communication passes the security checking; and

directing, by the system, the communication to a second location specified for communications that do not pass the security checking, when the return code indicates that the communication fails the security checking.