System for eliminating unauthorized electronic mail
First Claim
1. A method in a computing system having a processor, comprising:
- receiving a first message sent from a message-sending server intended for a message-receiving server, wherein the first message identifies a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient;
determining whether the sender address is authorized to send a message to the recipient; and
in response to determining that the sender address is not authorized,causing to be sent a second message indicating rejection of the first message; and
preventing the message-sending server from sending the first message to the message-receiving server.
2 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.
31 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method in a computing system having a processor, comprising:
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receiving a first message sent from a message-sending server intended for a message-receiving server, wherein the first message identifies a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient; determining whether the sender address is authorized to send a message to the recipient; and in response to determining that the sender address is not authorized, causing to be sent a second message indicating rejection of the first message; and preventing the message-sending server from sending the first message to the message-receiving server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-readable device whose contents are configured to cause a computing system to perform operations comprising:
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receiving a first message sent from a message-sending server intended for a message-receiving server, wherein the first message identifies a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient; determining whether the sender address is authorized to send a message to the recipient; and in response to determining that the sender address is not authorized, causing to be sent a second message indicating rejection of the first message; and preventing the message-sending server from sending the first message to the message-receiving server. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computing system, comprising:
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a communications subsystem adapted to receive a first message sent from a message-sending server intended for a message-receiving server, wherein the first message identifies a sender address of a sender and a recipient address of a recipient; a processor adapted to determine whether the sender address is authorized to send a message to the recipient; and a rejection subsystem adapted to, in response to determining that the sender address is not authorized, cause to be sent a second message indicating rejection of the first message; and prevent the message-sending server from sending the first message to the message-receiving server. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification