Identification of protected content in e-mail messages
First Claim
1. A method of controlling distribution of messages by identifying protected content in the body of e-mail messages, the method comprising:
- maintaining a database stored in memory, the database comprising content previously identified by a user as protected content, the protected content being associated with permission information specified by the user, the permission information specifying other users that have been authorized to access the protected content and other users that have been authorized to redistribute the protected content, wherein the protected content is not allowed outside of a private network absent an indication that both a sender and an intended recipient have been authorized to access and/or redistribute the content;
intercepting an e-mail message addressed to at least one recipient by a sender; and
executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor;
extracts content from the body of the intercepted e-mail message,compares the extracted content to the protected content stored in the database in order to identify similarity between at least a portion of the extracted content and the protected content stored in the database, wherein the identified similar portion is not identical to the protected content, and wherein the comparison uses one or more detection techniques to identify the similar portion of extracted content and the one or more detection techniques include determining that the portion of extracted content is more likely to match protected content when misplaced non-alphabetic characters are present in the portion of the extracted content than when misplaced alphabetic characters are present in the portion of extracted content,determines that the extracted content includes protected content based on the identified similarity to protected content stored in the database,determines that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content as specified by the permission information associated with the protected content, andallows the message to be transmitted outside of a private network behind a security appliance based on the determination that the content extracted from the body of the e-mail message includes protected content and the determination that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content.
23 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of controlling distribution of content in a message sent by a message sender comprises receiving an indication from the message sender that the message is to be protected, identifying content in the message to be protected, adding the identified content to a database of protected content, and determining whether subsequently received content in a subsequently received message is associated with the identified content. A system for controlling distribution of content in a message sent by a message sender comprises a processor configured to receive an indication from the message sender that the message is to be protected, identify content in the message to be protected, add the identified content to a database of protected content, and determine whether subsequently received content in a subsequently received message is associated with the identified content.
56 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of controlling distribution of messages by identifying protected content in the body of e-mail messages, the method comprising:
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maintaining a database stored in memory, the database comprising content previously identified by a user as protected content, the protected content being associated with permission information specified by the user, the permission information specifying other users that have been authorized to access the protected content and other users that have been authorized to redistribute the protected content, wherein the protected content is not allowed outside of a private network absent an indication that both a sender and an intended recipient have been authorized to access and/or redistribute the content; intercepting an e-mail message addressed to at least one recipient by a sender; and executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor; extracts content from the body of the intercepted e-mail message, compares the extracted content to the protected content stored in the database in order to identify similarity between at least a portion of the extracted content and the protected content stored in the database, wherein the identified similar portion is not identical to the protected content, and wherein the comparison uses one or more detection techniques to identify the similar portion of extracted content and the one or more detection techniques include determining that the portion of extracted content is more likely to match protected content when misplaced non-alphabetic characters are present in the portion of the extracted content than when misplaced alphabetic characters are present in the portion of extracted content, determines that the extracted content includes protected content based on the identified similarity to protected content stored in the database, determines that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content as specified by the permission information associated with the protected content, and allows the message to be transmitted outside of a private network behind a security appliance based on the determination that the content extracted from the body of the e-mail message includes protected content and the determination that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for identifying protected content in the body of e-mail messages, the method comprising:
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maintaining a database comprising content previously identified by a user as protected content, the protected content being associated with permission information specified by the user, the permission information specifying other users that have been authorized to access the protected content and other users that have been authorized to redistribute the protected content, wherein the protected content is not allowed outside of a private network absent an indication that both a sender and an intended recipient have been authorized to access and/or redistribute the content; intercepting an e-mail message addressed to at least one recipient by a sender; extracting content from the body of the intercepted e-mail message; comparing the extracted content to the protected content stored in the database in order to identify similarity between at least a portion of the extracted content and the protected content stored in the database, wherein the identified similar portion is not identical to the protected content, and wherein the comparison uses one or more detection techniques to identify the similar portion of extracted content and the one or more detection techniques include determining that the portion of extracted content is more likely to match protected content when misplaced non-alphabetic characters are present in the portion of the extracted content than when misplaced alphabetic characters are present in the portion of extracted content; determining that the extracted content includes protected content based on the identified similarity to protected content stored in the database; determining that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content as specified by the permission information associated with the protected content; and allowing the message to be transmitted outside of a private network behind a security appliance based on the determination that the content extracted from the body of the e-mail message includes protected content and the determination that the sender is authorized to redistribute the protected content and the at least one recipient is authorized to access the protected content.
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Specification