Unified content scanning and reporting engine
First Claim
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1. A method for preventing leakage of information or exposure to inappropriate content during electronic communications, the method comprising:
- intercepting a person-to-person electronic communication;
determining a type of the electronic communication;
converting content of the electronic communication to a common format, the content of the electronic communication corresponding to one or more of any of text, audio, and image;
parsing the content of the electronic communication in the common format into chunks that are added to a content tree, each chunk conforming to one of a plurality of base formats, the base formats being selected from a group including text, audio and image;
analyzing the content of each chunk in the respective base format to identify restricted content that is not to be received or transmitted;
reconstructing a modified electronic communication by building content thereof from the content tree, modifying or removing the identified restricted content as the modified electronic communication is reconstructed; and
transmitting the modified electronic communication in place of the intercepted electronic communication so as to prevent leakage of the identified restricted content or exposure to the identified restricted content.
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Abstract
A method of unified content scanning in which content is deconstructed into base formats so as to be presented to content filters in a common format. The base formats include text, image and audio. The invention also includes a system of unified content scanning and a gateway appliance embodying the method of unified content scanning.
12 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for preventing leakage of information or exposure to inappropriate content during electronic communications, the method comprising:
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intercepting a person-to-person electronic communication; determining a type of the electronic communication; converting content of the electronic communication to a common format, the content of the electronic communication corresponding to one or more of any of text, audio, and image; parsing the content of the electronic communication in the common format into chunks that are added to a content tree, each chunk conforming to one of a plurality of base formats, the base formats being selected from a group including text, audio and image; analyzing the content of each chunk in the respective base format to identify restricted content that is not to be received or transmitted; reconstructing a modified electronic communication by building content thereof from the content tree, modifying or removing the identified restricted content as the modified electronic communication is reconstructed; and transmitting the modified electronic communication in place of the intercepted electronic communication so as to prevent leakage of the identified restricted content or exposure to the identified restricted content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A gateway appliance comprising:
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a processor; and memory containing an instruction set causing the processor to; identify person-to-person electronic communications passing through the gateway appliance; and for each electronic communication; determine a type of the electronic communication; convert content of the electronic communication to a common format using an application awareness engine, the content of the electronic communication corresponding to one or more of any of text, audio, and image; parse the content of the electronic communication in the common format into chunks that are added to a content tree, each chunk conforming to one of a plurality of base formats, the base formats being selected from a group including text, audio and image; analyze the content of each chunk in the respective base format to identify restricted content that is not to be received or transmitted; reconstruct a modified electronic communication by building content thereof from the content tree, modifying or removing the identified restricted content as the modified electronic communication is reconstructed; and transmit the modified electronic communication. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A unified content scanning system comprising:
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a processor; and memory containing an instruction set that is executed by the processor, the instruction set comprising; an application awareness engine that causes the processor to; identify a person-to-person electronic communication; determine a type of the electronic communication; convert content of the electronic communication to a common format, the content of the electronic communication corresponding to one or more of any of text, audio, and image; and parse the content of the electronic communication in the common format into chunks that are added to a content tree, each chunk conforming to one of a plurality of base formats, the base formats being selected from a group including text, audio and image; and a content scanning engine that causes the processor to analyze the content of each chunk in the respective base format to identify restricted content that is not to be received or transmitted, wherein once the content of each chunk in the respective base format has been analyzed by the content scanning engine the application awareness engine; reconstructs a modified electronic communication by building content thereof from the content tree, modifying or removing the identified restricted content as the modified electronic communication is reconstructed; and transmits the modified electronic communication. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification