ENHANCED MESSAGE-ID AS ELECTRONIC WATERMARK FOR ELECTRONIC MAIL FILTERING

• US 20080270545A1
• Filed: 04/27/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Anthony C. Howe
• Original Assignee: Anthony C. Howe
• Inventors: Howe, Anthony C.
• Application Number:
  US11/741,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20080270545A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an enhanced Message-ID for an email message produced by an enhanced Message-ID generator and validator of an email system. The enhanced Message-ID comprises a symbolic name used to identify the presence of an enhanced Message-ID header, a timestamp value indicating when a modification was applied to the header, an original value of the Message-ID header, and a textual representation of a one-way security hash generated from the timestamp value, the original value, and a secret phrase.

Claims

1. An enhanced Message-ID for an email message produced by an enhanced Message-ID generator of an email system, the enhanced Message-ID comprising:

a symbolic name used to identify the presence of an enhanced Message-ID header;

a timestamp value indicating when a modification was applied to the header;

an original value of the Message-ID header prior to modification; and

a textual representation of a one-way security hash generated from the timestamp value, the original Message-ID value prior to modification, and a secret phrase.

2. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the email system includes a message validator for detecting the presence of the enhanced Message-ID and for validating its authenticity.

3. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the enhanced Message-ID is located in a RFC 2822 message header including extension headers, wherein the message header utilizes a Message-ID of a parent email message.

4. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the enhanced Message-ID is located in a References header of the email message.

5. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the enhanced Message-ID is located in an In-Reply-To header of the email message.

6. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the enhanced Message-ID is located in a message system report containing a reference to the enhanced Message-ID.

7. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein the enhanced Message-ID includes a limited life span.

8. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein if the enhanced Message-ID passes validation, the email message circumvents one or more content filters.

9. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 1, wherein if the enhanced Message-ID does not pass validation, the email message is subjugated to additional filtering that may result in the message being rejected, discarded, or quarantined.

10. An email system of a sender for sending emails to, and receiving emails from, a recipient, the email system comprising:

an enhanced Message-ID generator for enhancing a standard Message-ID header of an email of the sender to include an electronic watermark;

a mail transfer agent for routing the email over a network to the recipient; and

an enhanced Message-ID validator for validating whether an incoming email from the recipient contains a valid enhanced Message-ID created by the email system of the sender.

11. The email system of claim 10, wherein the mail transfer agent is configured to receive emails of the sender having the standard Message-ID header.

12. The email system of claim 10, further comprising a mail submission agent configured to receive emails of the sender having the standard Message-ID header.

13. The email system of claim 10, wherein the enhanced Message-ID generator and enhanced Message-ID validator are implemented as one or more software applications residing on the mail transfer agent and/or a mail submission agent.

14. The email system of claim 13, wherein the mail submission agent and the mail transfer agent comprise separate software applications.

15. The email system of claim 13, wherein the mail submission agent and the mail transfer agent comprise a single software application operating in two different modes.

16. The email system of claim 10, wherein the enhanced Message-ID generator determines whether the initial Message-ID header is in enhanced Message-ID format, and generates the enhanced Message-ID including electronic watermark only if the standard Message-ID is not already in enhanced Message-ID format.

17. The email system of claim 10, wherein the incoming email from the recipient contains a References header appending the enhanced Message-ID from the sender'"'"'s email.

18. The email system of claim 10, wherein the incoming email from the recipient contains an In-Reply-To header including the enhanced Message-ID from the sender'"'"'s email.

19. The email system of claim 10, wherein the incoming email from the recipient contains one or more headers that contain a reference to the enhanced Message-ID from the sender'"'"'s email.

20. The email system of claim 10, wherein the enhanced Message-ID validator passes the incoming email to one or more content filters if the incoming email does not contain a valid enhanced Message-ID.

21. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 20, wherein if the enhanced Message-ID does not pass validation, the email message is rejected, discarded, or quarantined.

22. The email system of claim 10, wherein the enhanced Message-ID validator passes the incoming email step directly to mail storage of the sender if the incoming email contains a valid enhanced Message-ID.

23. The email system of claim 22, wherein passing the incoming email directly to mail storage of the sender bypasses content filtering of the incoming email.

24. The email system of claim 10, wherein the enhanced Message-ID includes a limited life span.

25. An enhanced Message-ID for a message produced by an enhanced Message-ID generator of a message system, the enhanced Message-ID comprising:

a symbolic name used to identify the presence of an enhanced Message-ID header;

a timestamp value indicating when a modification was applied to the header;

an original value of the Message-D header prior to modification; and

a textual representation of a one-way security hash generated from the timestamp value, the original Message-ID value prior to modification, and a secret phrase.

26. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 25, wherein the message comprises an SMTP email message.

27. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 25, wherein the message comprises an SMS message.

28. The enhanced Message-ID of claim 25, wherein the message comprises an SNPP message, a WCTP message, an MMS message, or a Wireless Village message.