System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
First Claim
1. A method for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising the steps of:
- (a) establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;
(b) making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, (c) receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email-sending system protocol a message from the email-sending server requesting to send email which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address;
(d) causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL list; and
(e) if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server under the common email-sending system protocol to send a reply message to the email-sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email is not recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending server from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the sender is unable to send the unwanted email to the user and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for eliminating unauthorized email sent to a user on a network employs an email-receiving server connected between the network and the user'"'"'s email client for receiving email addressed to the user and rejecting those in which the sender address does not match any of sender addresses maintained on an “authorized senders” list (ASL list). The ASL lists are maintained by an ASL manager in an ASL database operable with a spam processor module. A redirector module rejects the email if, upon sending a request for validation to the spam processor module, the sender'"'"'s address does not match any authorized sender address on the ASL list. Email rejected by the redirector module is redirected to a web-based messaging (WBM) module which sends a message to the sender to confirm that the sender is a legitimate sender of email to the intended recipient. If the sender logs on to confirm their status, the WBM module executes an interaction procedure which can only be performed by a human, in order to ensure that the confirmation procedure is not performed by a mechanical program. The ASL manager maintains the ASL lists based upon sender address data collected from various sources and analyses of various email usage factors, including sent email, received email, contact lists maintained by the user, user preference inputs, third party programs, etc.
479 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising the steps of:
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(a) establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;
(b) making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) of email addresses of senders authorized to send email to the user, (c) receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email-sending system protocol a message from the email-sending server requesting to send email which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address;
(d) causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL list; and
(e) if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server under the common email-sending system protocol to send a reply message to the email-sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email is not recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending server from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the sender is unable to send the unwanted email to the user and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising the steps
(a) establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network; -
(b) making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) which identifies email addresses of senders not authorized to send email to the user;
(c) receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email-sending system protocol, a message from the email-sending server requesting to send mail which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address;
(d) causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL List of senders not authorized to send email to the user; and
(e) if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being on the user'"'"'s ASL list, causing the email-receiving server under the common email-sending system protocol to send a reply message to the email-sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being not authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL List, causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending server from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the sender is unable to send the unwanted email and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for eliminating unauthorized email on a network comprising:
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(a) first means for establishing a connection on a network between an email-receiving server and an email-sending server, wherein said email-receiving server and email-sending server utilize a common email-sending system protocol to send email on the network;
(b) second means for making accessible to the email-receiving server for each subscribing user an authorized senders list (ASL list) for identifying which email addresses of senders are authorized to send email to the user;
(c) third means for receiving at the email-receiving server, under the common email sending system protocol, a message from the email-sending server requesting to send email which is addressed to a user deemed to receive email through the email-receiving server and which is addressed from a given sender address; and
(d) fourth means for causing the email-receiving server to check whether the user the intended email is addressed to is a user which receives email through the email-receiving server, and, if so, then causing the email-receiving server to check whether the sender address of the intended email is on the user'"'"'s ASL list as being authorized to send email to the user, (e) wherein, if the sender address of the intended email is recognized as being authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL list, said fourth means causing the email-receiving server to send a reply message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-Sending server that the sending of the email to the email-receiving server will be accepted, otherwise if the sender address of the intended email not authorized on the user'"'"'s ASL list, said fourth means causing the email-receiving server to send an error message, under the common email-sending system protocol, to the email-sending server so as to prohibit the email-sending from sending the intended email to the email-receiving server, whereby the is usable to send the unwanted email and is deterred from sending further email to the user'"'"'s address indicated to be in error by the email-receiving server.
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Specification