US20060206938A1 - E-mail management services - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an electronic message management system (EMS) that includes a real-time feedback loop where data is collected from the electronic messages on incoming connection attempts, outgoing delivery attempts, and message content analysis, and written to a centralized data matrix. A separate process accesses the data matrix and analyzes trends in that data. The detected data patterns, trends or behavior is based on configuration parameters for the recipient. Based on these determinations, the process is able to instruct components in the EMS to accept, redirect, refuse, modify, defer, or otherwise dispose of the connection request, the delivery attempt, or the message. Associated methods for managing the transmission of electronic messages are also disclosed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
• This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/908,060, filed on Apr. 26, 2005, and entitled “Systems and Methods for Managing the Transmission of Electronic Messages Via Message Source Data”, that is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,348 issued on Sep. 6, 2005, and entitled “Systems and Methods for Managing the Transmission of Electronic Messages Through Active Message Date Updating”, that claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/357,893, filed on Feb. 19, 2002, and entitled “E-Mail Management Services” commonly assigned with the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF ACTIVITY
• Disclosed embodiments herein relate generally to e-mail management systems and more particularly to e-mail management systems (EMSs) employing traffic monitoring and management, and for managing and filtering electronic messages based on the traffic monitoring and management.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• E-mail management is commonly handled by ISPs that have user/subscribers or by companies which employs the e-mail users. A part of e-mail management comprises filtering for spam or virus control, but when such e-mail management is performed at the ISP or at the company server location, valuable communications bandwidth and computing resources are expended on routing, analyzing, and other handling of spurious e-mail traffic. Present e-mail management systems are further characterized by a lack of real-time monitoring, feedback, and updating of rules regarding e-mail traffic or SMTP connection situations. Management and monitoring of e-mail traffic situations is commonly handled through human intervention.
• Other present systems for blocking spam or viruses include systems that populate decoy email addresses around the Internet, where the decoy email addresses act as spam collectors. Human editors then review the messages that come in, catalog them, and create a database of such junk-mail messages and their checksums. The created database is then promulgated to subscribers of the service, and each message received at the customer premises is checked against the virus/spam database. Again, in this instance, the detection and monitoring of the Internet for new virus and spam messages is not in real time, and the customer premise mail server must still receive all of the spurious e-mails and then analyze all the incoming emails to see whether there is a match in the database.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides, in one aspect, a traffic monitor for use with a computer process in managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers, wherein messages sent from the sending mail servers comprise source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the traffic monitor includes a data matrix for storing the source and destination data for a plurality of incoming electronic messages, and an interface coupled to the matrix. In this embodiment, the interface is configured to facilitate supplementing of the source and destination data with metadata provided by the computer process and based on the plurality of electronic messages, and to facilitate access to the source and destination data and the metadata for use in processing the plurality of electronic messages.
• In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for use with a computer process in managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers, wherein messages sent from the sending mail servers comprise source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the method includes collecting and storing in real time, without completing the connection process, the source and destination data for a plurality of incoming electronic messages, and supplementing the source and destination data with metadata provided by the computer process and based on the plurality of electronic messages. In addition, the method includes analyzing and processing in the computer process the plurality of electronic messages based on the source and destination data and the metadata.
• In a further aspect, the present invention provides an electronic message management system (EMS) for use in managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers, wherein messages sent from the sending mail servers comprise source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the EMS includes a traffic monitor having a data matrix for storing the source and destination data for a plurality of incoming electronic messages, and an interface for facilitating access to the data matrix. Also, the EMS includes a message handling process coupled to the interface and configured to supplement the source and destination data with metadata extrapolated from the plurality of electronic messages. In this embodiment, the EMS still further includes an interpreter process coupled to the interface and configured to access the source and destination data and the metadata to generate processing instructions based thereon. In such an embodiment, the message handling process is further configured to process the plurality of electronic messages based on the processing instructions.
• In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers, wherein messages sent from the sending mail servers comprise source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the method includes storing the source and destination data for a plurality of incoming electronic messages in a data matrix, and extrapolating metadata from the plurality of electronic messages. In addition, the method includes supplementing the source and destination data with the metadata, and accessing the source and destination data and the metadata via an interface. The method also includes generating processing instructions based on the source and destination data and the metadata, and processing the plurality of electronic messages based on the processing instructions.
• In still a further embodiment, the present invention provides an EMS for use in managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the EMS includes a connection management module configured to extract source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers from a plurality of incoming electronic messages. In addition, the EMS includes a data matrix for storing the source and destination data, and an interface coupled between the data matrix and the connection management module. In such an embodiment, the interface is configured to facilitate supplementing of the source and destination data with metadata extrapolated from the plurality of incoming electronic messages, and to facilitate access to the source and destination data and the metadata. In such an embodiment, the connection management module is further configured to accept any of the plurality of incoming electronic messages from the sending mail servers based on the source and destination data and the metadata.
• In a further embodiment, the present invention provides a method for managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the method includes extracting source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers from a plurality of incoming electronic messages. The method also includes supplementing the source and destination data with metadata extrapolated from the plurality of electronic messages, and accepting any of the plurality of electronic messages from the sending mail servers based on the source and destination data and the metadata.
• In yet a further embodiment, the present invention provides an EMS for use in managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the EMS includes a data matrix for storing source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers for a plurality of incoming electronic messages. The EMS also includes an interface coupled to the data matrix and configured to facilitate supplementing of the source and destination data with metadata extrapolated from the plurality of electronic messages, and to facilitate access to the source and destination data and the metadata. In this embodiment, the EMS still further includes a delivery management module coupled to the interface and configured to deliver any of the plurality of incoming electronic messages to the receiving mail servers based on the source and destination data and the metadata.
• In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for managing the transmission of electronic messages from sending mail servers to receiving mail servers. In one embodiment, the method includes storing source data associated with the sending mail servers and destination data associated with the receiving mail servers from a plurality of incoming electronic messages. The method also includes supplementing the source and destination data with metadata extrapolated from the plurality of electronic messages. In such an embodiment, the method further includes delivering any of the plurality of electronic messages to the receiving mail servers based on the source and destination data and the metadata.
• The foregoing has outlined preferred and alternative features of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiments as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is emphasized that various features may not be drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. In addition, it is emphasized that some components may not be illustrated for clarity of discussion. Reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
• FIG. 1 is a general block diagram generally describing e-mail delivery over the Internet;
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating possible placements of an active E-Mail Management System in the Internet e-mail delivery path;
• FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing in more detail the architecture and placement in an e-mail delivery network of an electronic message E-mail management system;
• FIG. 4 is a more-focused block diagram of a message handling computer process, focusing on some of the elements of an EMS, and showing a possible routing of e-mail messages through this portion of the EMS;
• FIG. 5 is an overview of an EMS in which multiple message handling computer processes are connected to a single traffic monitor and its associated interpreter process;
• FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment for a hierarchical division of email management functions to be applied to destination IP addresses that may be managed with an EMS constructed according to the principles disclosed herein;
• FIG. 7 is a database structure forming a connection management table that can be used by the connection manager to act on events in connection with a predetermined hierarchy;
• FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing the transmission of electronic messages, including writing data to and receiving instructions from components of the EMS;
• FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the process flow for assigning control instructions based on a sending IP address, and configuration parameters for the particular recipient in the organizational hierarchy managed by the EMS;
• FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the process flow for the Interpreter process resource within an EMS;
• FIG. 11 graphically illustrates data structures that can be employed in the described embodiments for real-time traffic monitoring;
• FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the process flow for a Spool Delivery resource for the described embodiments;
• FIG. 13 is a screen shot of an example access page for an administrative console for use with an EMS according to the present invention;
• FIG. 14 is a screen shot of an example page for monitoring and configuring a connection manager used in an EMS according to the present invention;
• FIG. 15 is a screen shot of another example page for a connection manager used in an EMS;
• FIG. 16 is a screen shot of an example page for monitoring and configuring a delivery manager used in an EMS according to the present invention;
• FIG. 17 is a screen shot of another example page for a delivery manager used in an EMS.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
• Referring initially toFIG. 1, illustrated is aprior art system100 for the delivery of e-mail messages through theInternet101 or other computer network. Sendingmail servers102a,102b(having associated source Internet protocol (IP) addresses) and receivingmail servers102c,102d(having associated destination IP addresses), or other message gateways, allow electronic messages, such as electronic mails (or “e-mails”) to be delivered to and from sending client machines104a-104dto receiving client machines104e-104h, or other devices such as cell phones, pagers, and/or hand-held computers. In accordance with conventional systems, the transmission direction of the e-mails may also be reversed, where the sending machines and servers become the receiving machines and servers and vice versa.
• E-mail messages are typically composed by an application running on a client machine104. When composition of the message is completed, the user uploads the completed message to a mail server102. The mail server102 in one embodiment is owned by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by a private corporation for whom the user works. The user client machine104 connects to the mail server102 via dial-up, digital subscriber loop (DSL), cable Internet, or by other appropriate means. One standard for e-mail formats is described byRFC 822 obsoleted by RFC2822, which are a standard and a proposed standard, respectively, promulgated by Internet Engineering Task Force (“IETF”). The protocol by which e-mail messages are transmitted from sending mail server102 to receiving mail server102 are described by RFC821, obsoleted by RFC 2821, which are also a standard and a proposed standard, respectively, of the IETF. These standards can be found at www.ietf.org. The present disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the subject matter of the RFC 821 andRFC 822 standards and the RFC 2821 and RFC2822 proposed standards. If the proposed standards are updated from the versions published in April 2001, it is the subject matter of the April 2001 versions of these proposed standards that is hereby incorporated by reference. The RFC 821 and RFC 2821 documents describe a Simple Mail Transport Protocol (“SMTP”), which is the protocol by which e-mail messages have typically been transported over the Internet.
• SMTP servers and SMTP clients (SMTP clients are network computers, not to be confused with the client machines104) provide a mail transport service, and therefore act as Mail Transfer Agents (“MTAs”). Mail User Agents (“MUAs” or “UAs”) are normally thought of as the sources and targets of mail. At the source, an MUA might be thesource mail server102a,102bthat collects mail to be transmitted from a user and hands it off to an MTA within thenetwork101. The final (“delivery”) MTA would be thought of as handing the mail off to an MUA, which might be thedestination mail server102c,102dthat holds a user's mail in the user's inbox.
• The SMTP mail transport protocol uses domain names to route messages from a sender to a receiver of e-mail. A distributed database of TCP/IP addresses corresponding to particular domain names is maintained across theInternet101 in Domain Name Servers (“DNSs”)108. Thus, to route an e-mail to its destination, thesource mail servers102a,102bwould generally take the address specified by the sending user and inquire of aDNS server108 the IP address to be assigned to the particular addressed domain name. As used in this specification, an “address” is a character string that identifies a user to whom mail will be sent, a user or source that is sending mail, or a location into which mail will be deposited. The term “mailbox” refers to that depository. The two terms are typically used interchangeably unless the distinction between the location in which mail is placed (the mailbox) and a reference to it (the address) is important. An address normally consists of user and domain specifications; however, addresses may have different forms depending on usage and type of address. The standard mailbox naming convention is defined to be “local-part@domain”; contemporary usage permits a much broader set of applications than simple “user names”. The local part of the address is typically interpreted and assigned semantics only by the host specified in the domain part of the address. In contrast, the standard Internet Protocol (IP) address is typically a specific string of numbers identifying a source or destination server.
• Once thesource mail server102a,102blexically identifies a domain to which email will be delivered for processing, a DNS lookup, through aDNS server108, is performed to resolve the domain name. Theemail110 is then sent from thesource mail server102a,102bvia theInternet101 to the identified domain.
• Turning now toFIG. 2, illustrated is a block diagram200 of an embodiment in which an active Electronic Message (e.g., E-Mail) Management System (EMS)203 is provided betweenInternet101 and receivingmail server202. TheEMS203 of the present invention is “active” and automated since it is constantly managing attempted transmissions of electronic messages without the need for human intervention at various steps of the management process. In this sense, anEMS203 according to the principles disclosed herein is automated, and configured to manage message delivery in real-time. The EMS system is able to interpret conditions, analyze patterns, and manage the delivery of data to the receivingserver202 by performing processing steps as each of the SMTP connection between the sender and recipient are processed. Traditional e-mail servers will typically accept the message data and write the message to disk prior to performing analysis. TheEMS203 is able to perform management steps at each stage of the SMTP transaction in order to minimize impact on thedestination server202, while providing security and management. So that mail intended for themail server202, and thus the receiving client's terminal204, is routed through theEMS203, the numerical IP address in theDNS108 that is associated with the domain name of the targetedmail server202 is updated to reflect the numerical address of theEMS203. For example, suppose the domain name of themail server202 is “anywhere.com” and the numerical IP addresses for themail server202 andEMS203 were “1234.5678.9876.5432” and “9876.5432.1234.5768,” respectively. Then the records in the distributedDNS database108 for “anywhere.com” would be updated to reflect the EMS's numerical address “9876.5432.1234.5768,” rather than “1234.5678.9876.5432.”
• Although this figure shows theEMS203 as being physically adjacent to themail server202, such placement is only for illustration purposes. TheEMS203 can be located anywhere on theInternet101. It can also be located either outside or within the mail server's202 associatedfirewall210, as shown by the optional positioning of thefirewall210 at position “A” (outside the firewall) or at position “B” (inside the firewall). Alternatively, theEMS203 could possibly run on the same physical machine as themail server202.
• Looking now atFIG. 3, illustrated is a more detailed diagram, including a block diagram300 of theEMS203. An administrative console web page316 (including its admin module318), may be located on the same particular server machine as theactual EMS system203 for providing an administrative access tool to assist in configuring how theEMS203 processes incoming electronic messages. The connections between theEMS203 and themail servers102a,102cmay be made through Internet or SMTP connections. As previously mentioned, theEMS203 could exist inside or outside a particular firewall with or without one of themail servers102a,102c.
• Generally, the system shown inFIG. 3 handles mail from a “sending”mail server102a. The designation of one mail server as a “sender” and the other as a “receiver” is arbitrary. Practically speaking, bothmail servers102a,102cwill generally act as both sender and receiver of electronic messages from and to the mail servers'102a,102csending and receivingclients104a,104e. In the embodiment shown, at least one of the mail servers'102a,102cdomain names will be associated with theEMS203 in the DNS distributed database and itsservers108. In embodiments employing theadministrative console316, theconsole316 receives information from theEMS203 regarding the types of electronic messages which are coming in for particular users or groups of users, such as information regarding the suspected viruses and spam e-mails, directory harvest attacks, or unwanted content or delivery attempts that have been sent to the user or users. It is theadministrative console316 that is employed to configure the parameters of filtering to be applied by theEMS203 for that user or organization. Theadministrative console316 receives information from theEMS203 regarding traffic patterns on the system, such as an inordinate number of e-mails being sent from a certain domain or other suspicious traffic patterns. Theadministrative console316 may be a web-based application having an “admin”software module318 running on a web server or optionally on the same intermediate platform as theEMS203.
• TheEMS203 is shown inFIG. 3 as including a message handlingcomputer process320 having a number of interconnected software modules. The layout of these various software modules in themessage handling process320 is not indicative of any particular physical structure in the machine running these software modules. One module included within theprocess320 is a connection management module, or simply aconnection manager322. Theconnection manager322 is responsible for setting up and monitoring incoming SMTP connections from UAs/mail servers102a(or Mail Transfer Agents). Theconnection manager322 is the entry point to theEMS203, and it monitors the incoming SMTP connection attempts and e-mail messages. Theprocess320 is further connected to atraffic monitor340, which collects incoming SMTP connection data, message metadata, and message delivery information.
• Aninterpreter process350, which may be a particular type of software daemon, is further provided. Theinterpreter process350 interacts with the data in thetraffic monitor340 to recognize patterns of messages within the traffic of messages that can be acted upon. More specifically, theconnection manager322, theemail handler326, the applications332s, and a delivery management module (or simply a delivery manager324), all comprising portions of theprocess320, write source and destination data, as well as metadata, to thetraffic monitor340 during the processing of incoming messages. The source and destination data is comprised of source data associated with the sendingmail server102a, and destination data associated with the receivingmail server104e. The metadata is extrapolated from the electronic messages by theprocess320 using theapplications332, which are program threads for detecting unwanted messages, such as specific messages as defined by content type or size. Table 1 sets forth more detailed examples of metadata generated by theEMS203, but the list is not intended to be exclusive.

  TABLE 1
  frontConnections	The number of times that the source IP address has connected to the
  	targeted organization in the last 60 seconds
  openFrontConnections	The number of connections from this IP address to the organization
  	currently open
  backConnections	The number of times EMS has connected to the mailserver for the
  	organization on behalf of this source IP address in the last 60 seconds
  openBackConnections	As with openFrontConnections
  backendFailed	Like backConnections, but records the number of failed connection
  	attempts (used to detect down mail server)
  numMessages	The number of messages which have been sent from the source IP
  	address to users in this organization
  numSpam	As above, but the number quarantined as spam
  numVirus	As above, but the number quarantined as having a virus
  conBlock, conBlackhole,	The number of messages for which conman dispositions of block
  conSpool, conQtine	(bounce), blackhole, spool, and quarantine have been applied for the
  	source IP address/organization pair
  size	Message size, in bytes; mean and standard deviation
  frontDuration	Duration of inbound connections; mean and standard deviation
  backDuration	Duration of outbound connections; mean and standard deviation
  numRecipients	The number of recipients on messages; mean and standard deviation
  Errors4	400-class errors between source IP address/organization
  Errors5	500-class errors between source IP address/organization
  summary per org	The sum of traffic from all inbound IP addresses
  summary record per	Record of when individual destination mailhosts go down
  org/mailhost
  numAttachment	The number of messages from the source IP address with unwanted
  	attachments
  numContent	The number of messages from the source IP address with unwanted
  	content
  numDeferred	The number of temporary deferral errors from the destination IP address
  numUnknown	The number of unknown user errors from the destination IP address

• To determine patterns with the electronic messages, or even behavior of the user sending the messages, theinterpreter process350 analyzes both the source and destination data and the metadata written into thetraffic monitor340. For example, when a large number of messages are coming in from the same outsideUA mail server102a, this might be indicative of a spam attack or other denial of service or unwanted delivery activity. Theinterpreter process350 may notice such trends through patterns of the source and destination data and the metadata stored in thetraffic monitor340, and initiate actions in themail handler326 to block the offending e-mails. In an advantageous embodiment, theinterpreter process350 is a specific software daemon created for such tasks, but the present invention is not limited to any particular embodiment. Examples of other patterns or conditions that theinterpreter process350 may detect based on the source and destination data and the metadata include, but are not limited to:
• • Directory harvest attack detection, where a statistically significant percentage of delivery attempts are directed to invalid users with the intent of compiling a list of valid addresses on the server.
  • Email Bomb detection, where the same or similar message is delivered repeatedly to the same user or group of users.
  • Spam Attacks, where a significant percentage of the data being sent from a source IP address is spam or otherwise unwanted e-mails.
  • Virus Attacks where a significant percentage of the data being sent from a source IP address is virus-infected.
  • Denial of Service connection requests, where a sending IP address is repeatedly connecting and holding the connection open or not delivering meaningful data.
  • Unresponsive customer servers, where connection attempts fail and messages should be redirected or spooled.
  • At-capacity customer servers, where the customer server is at threshold capacity and should not receive additional messages.
• Idle customer servers, where the idle customer servers may have unused capacity and are able to accept more messages.
• • Next server, where the next e-mail server in the allocated rotation of recipient servers should receive the next message.
  • Busy customer servers, where the customer server is returning a deferral error suggesting that it is unable to process requests.
• Adatabase360 is also provided in this embodiment to log the actions of theinterpreter process350 and/or the information about the filtered e-mail, and to store configuration parameters for applying message processing actions based on patterns recognized in thetraffic monitor340. Theadministrative console316 has access to thedatabase360 and, in turn, to theinterpreter process350, whereby the actions taken can be reviewed and the system can be configured with regard to the actions to be taken in certain types of circumstances.
• Conceptually, at the other side of theprocess320 is adelivery manager324, which has the ability to know, in real time, the state of receivingUA mail servers102cto which theEMS203 is sending messages. Between theconnection manager322 and thedelivery manager324 is themail handler326, which manages the overall processes within theEMS203. Themail handler326 is conceptually connected to a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)decoder328 and to anapplication interface330. Theapplication interface330 provides an interface between themail handler326 andapplications332, which will assist in writing information to thetraffic monitor340, which becomes the basis for the metadata.
• Following a configuration established by rules stored in thedatabase360, theinterpreter process350 will interpret patterns in the data stored in thetraffic monitor340, as described above, and update records in a connection management table (conman table)370. The conman table370 stores this message processing information, typically in the form of disposition instructions, which regulate how the connection and delivery for incoming messages and for specific source IP addresses are to be processed. Examples of disposition instructions, appearing in the way of disposition flags in the records of the conman table370, include, but are not limited to:
• • message accept
  • message reject
  • message quarantine
  • message spool
  • message defer
  • message throttle
  • message redirect
  • black hole.
• In one example, if one particular address is known to be spamming, or sending otherwise undesirable messages, one particular customer, a Connection Management Record (conman record) is written to the conman table370 to reject or throttle SMTP connections, thus protecting the organization. Thus, patterns and behavior can be identified based on the source and destination data and the metadata, and connection management records can be rolled up and applied for the entire customer base. Once an offending condition has been identified, on subsequent similar requests to deliver messages, theconnection manager322 queries the conman table370 in order to determine if there are specific instructions on handling the request from the sending IP address. If disposition flags are present, theconnection manager322 then uses the disposition instructions in the conman table370 to dispose of the message appropriately or to prevent a connection by the sendingmail server102ain the first place. Depending on the condition preventing transmission of the message to the intended user, even if a connection by theconnection manager322 is accepted, thedelivery manager324 may be instructed by theinterpreter process350, via a delivery manager table380, to dispose of the message appropriately. The delivery manager table380 is similar to the conman table370 in that theinterpreter process350 or eachEMS process203 writes message processing instructions into the table380 based on the data stored in thetraffic monitor340. Disposition instructions that may appear in the delivery manager table380, rather than the conman table370, include, but are not limited to:
• • message deliver message defer
  • message reject
  • message redirect.
    A more detailed description of some of the components of themessage handler326, as well as their function, is set forth below with reference toFIG. 4.
• Turning now toFIG. 4, illustrated is a more detailed software module block diagram400 of the message handlingcomputer process320. Themail handler326 in this embodiment includes a message processing server (MPS)426, which is designed to be a fast, stateless mail handler. TheMPS426 takes anincoming e-mail message110 and can “scrape” or extract information from themessage110 as it is going by, i.e., without imposing a delay on the delivery of themessage110. TheMPS426 is also able to conditionally deliver messages via thedelivery manager324, either on its own accord or according to instructions from the interpreter process350 (seeFIG. 3). For example, if theinterpreter process350 determines from the data in thetraffic monitor340 that a connection attempt or group of connection attempts from a common source IP address is a directory harvest attack, theinterpreter process350 can update the conman table370 to instruct theconnection manager322 to reject the connection. Alternatively, theinterpreter process350 may update the delivery manager table380 to instruct thedelivery manager324 to otherwise dispose of the message. If an application, such as aspam detection application332, returns the value of a message that suggests it is spam, theMPS426, in coordination with theinterpreter process350, can configure the delivery of the message to route it to a quarantine website. The decisions on which electronic messages are passed, diverted, deferred, etc. are made in part based on the metadata generated from the universe of incoming messages, and based on the way theEMS203 has been configured through theadministrative console316 and theapplications332 selected for processing the messages.
• Additional sub-modules are also shown inFIG. 4. In this embodiment, there is provided ametadata collector submodule430 and anevent sender submodule432, which perform functions described with respect to the embodiment ofFIG. 3 of collecting data from the electronic messages entering theEMS203 and of providing that information to thetraffic monitor340. Although these submodules are shown associated with theMPS426, they could be separate software modules or they could be associated with themetadata collector430. While theapplications332 do not specifically write to the conman table370, they may be configured, via theapplication interface330, to: a) process the message, b) update disposition flags based on process results, and c) deliver the metadata to thetraffic monitor340.
• An additional feature of the embodiments described inFIGS. 3-4 is the ability to tailor the delivery of e-mails according to the loading at the destinationUA email server102c. The delivermanager324 can detect loading issues in the designationUA email server102cby, for instance, delay by theserver102cin acknowledging the receipt of previous e-mail messages. Thus, theoutput buffer relay440 andspool relay442 serve to spool outgoing messages based on detected loading issues in the destinationUA e-mail server102c.
• Referring now toFIG. 5, illustrated is a block diagram500 illustrating an embodiment where two or more message handling computer processes320a,320bare each operating independently, but are connected to asingle traffic monitor340 and conman table370. Eachprocess320a-nalso shares data regarding the current open connections with the receiving server. This shared delivery manager table380 contains a current status at any time of all messages in transit to the receiving server. Theprocesses320a,320bincludeevent senders432a,432b, which send metadata to thetraffic monitor340 about the occurring events in the streaming e-mail traffic. Thetraffic monitor340 has anevent listener502 that is the communications interface to theevent senders432a,432bof theprocesses320a,320b. Thetraffic monitor340 andinterpreter process350 in this embodiment thus monitor and controlmultiple processes320a,320b, for multiple incoming streams of electronic messages, as shown.
• As an example of the organization of some of the data within thetraffic monitor340, an exemplary data matrix, in the form of a data table504, is shown. In this data table504, incidences of e-mails from multiple sources to multiple destinations are arranged as a table, mapping along the rows, messages from particular sources, and along the columns, messages to particular destinations. Potential spam might show up in the table504, then, as an instance where a large percentage of the destinations have received messages from a particular source, thereby appearing as a nearly full row in the table504. Theinterpreter process350 then turns to thedatabase360 and consults the rules in thedatabase360 by which theinterpreter process350 has been instructed to operate through the configuration of those rules via theadministrative console316.
• The user thus configures theinterpreter process350 through thedatabase360. Exemplary rules would include the definition of a spam attack (e.g., 100 or some other number of messages from a single IP address), and the actions to take on a spam attack, such as limiting the number of connections granted to the IP address or deleting all incoming e-mails from that IP address. Other examples of situations prompting the creation of message handling rules could be a virus attack, directory harvest attack, e-mail bomb, etc., as stated above. Once the rules have been stored in thedatabase360, all theconnection managers322a,322banddelivery managers324a,324bassociated with thatdatabase360 will use the configuration information in thedatabase360 and the conman table370 on each message transaction, based on the destination IP address, to ensure that they are operating under the most up-to-date set of rules. Theconnection managers322a,322b, as previously mentioned, provide event information to thetraffic monitor340 during this process.
• Theinterpreter process350, which monitors thetraffic monitor340, can in turn update the conman table370 based on detected patterns in thetraffic monitor340 that violate specified rules. Modules in the computer processes320a,320bthen connect with thedatabase360, the conman table370 and thetraffic monitor340 on each message transaction to receive the most current configuration and access restrictions set forth by the rules or with the delivery manager table380, and get instructions on delivery to the destination server based on current conditions. Thus, the system can be constantly updating itself with the most recent connection and delivery information and thereby adapt, in real-time, to changing loads of electronic message traffic, without human review or intervention. Theinterpreter process350 updates the conman table370, which is queried by all of theconnection managers322a,322bin all of theMPSs426a,426bso they all simultaneously know the needed activity promulgated in the rules.
• It is further possible to configure systems in whichmultiple delivery managers324a,324band/orconnection managers322a,322bcommunicate with one another, such that, for example, if one of thedelivery managers324a,324bnotices that a destination mail server is slow, adelivery manager324a,324bnotifies all theother delivery managers324a,324bto defer or slow down message delivery to the particular destination server.
• All transaction data is stored inLogs506. TheLogs506 will keep records of all message transactions and parameters. In an exemplary embodiment,detailed reports508 are generated, perhaps on a daily basis, on what servers sent what to certain destination addresses. In such an embodiment, this data may be presented in a graphical web-based format, or it may be downloaded as raw data by a user. Information on which thereports508 may be generated include, but are not limited to, source IP address, message content type, message volume, recipient information, etc.
• Alerts510 may also be configured for informing an administrator(s) of conditions regarding their system. For example, if theEMS203 detects a directory harvest attack, theinterpreter process350 will update the conman table370 and generate an alert to the specified recipient. In another example, if a mail server goes down, theinterpreter process350 will update the disposition flag in the conman table370 to spool, and generate an alert to the specified recipient. As such,Alerts510 can be generated based on all conditions that theinterpreter process350 identifies.
• In one embodiment, in accordance withFIG. 6, auser database hierarchy600 is established whereby parameters for the identification and disposition of managing connections and scanning message data, as well as other events, can be tailored according to the position of the user within thehierarchy600. All users within the system fall beneath thetop level602 in the hierarchy, and thus there will be established certain rules for all users in belonging to the system.
• Beneath thetop level602, users may belong to subsidiary organizations, which are the customers604a-604cto the top-level602 administrator. For example, a user at Acme Corporation might have the e-mail address user1@acme.com, where the address acme.com is the top-level602 domain server address associated with Acme in the distributedDNS database servers108. E-mails would be acted upon according to the top-level602 rules. Additionally, the specific rules of acme.com would be applied to those users, because user1 as “customer #1”604ain the hierarchy would have set forth its particular requirements. The particular requirements of user1, however, would not be applied to the user groups associated with “customer #2”605bor “customer #3”604c.
• Furthermore, sometimes organizations will havesubsidiary organizations606a,606b, thus resulting in different domain name, such as corp.acme.com and usa.acme.com. The embodiments described herein allow for custom rules to also be applied at successively lower hierarchical levels without the need necessarily to implement a complete set of personalized rules for each user, although such personalization is also possible.
• Turning now toFIG. 7, illustrated is adatabase structure700 that can be used by a connection manager to act on events in connection with the hierarchy ofFIG. 6. According to thisdatabase structure700,conman records710 for use in a conman table370 are organized by an Internal Identifier (“IID”)710a, which is a record of where the recipient resides in thehierarchy600, as well as which configuration parameters are set. Also illustrated are additional fields that can be included in the conman records710 for the startingIP address710band the endingaddress710cfor originating IP addresses of messages. Other exemplary fields are theexpiration time710dfor theconman record710, as well as thedisposition flag710eof the conman table370, which is the action to be taken by theconnection manager322 in response to particular connection requests.
• In this embodiment, it is theinterpreter process350 that creates the conman records710 according to rules that have been set-up for users within theorganizational hierarchy600. Alternatively, conman records710 may also be created manually through theadministrative console316. Theserecords710 may be stored in thedatabase360 or in another database accessible by theconnection manager322. A single IID may havemultiple records710. Theserecords710 contain anexpiration value710dthat allows blocked, throttled, or otherwise controlled sending mail servers, to retain status as legitimate senders without restriction, if their messaging practices are cleaned up. Once theexpiration value710dis reached, theconnection manager322 andMPS426 will process individual messages from that sender. If they are continuing to send viruses, anew record710 in the conman table370 will be established. This process will repeat until the condition of the sender changes and they begin sending legitimate email messages.
• Also illustrated inFIG. 7 is a detailed record720a-iofpossible disposition flags710ewithin the conman table370. The illustrated examples are message accept720a, message reject720b,message quarantine720c,message spool720d, message defer720e,message throttle720f, message redirect720g,connection rejection720h, andblackhole720i. Of course, the invention is not limited to thesespecific disposition flags710e.
• Referring now toFIG. 8, illustrated is one embodiment of the operation of an MPS through an operational flowchart. As indicated in the diagram, along the entire process data resulting from the process is written into a traffic monitor using various components of the MPS in the EMS, as discussed above in greater detail. That data may then be used by an interpreter process to update information in a conman table employed by a connection management module, as well as in a delivery management table employed by a delivery management module. The process begins at a start step, and then moves to step800, where a sender opens a connection via a sender mail server in an attempt to send an electronic message, such as an e-mail, to a targeted user connected to a receiving mail server. Atstep802, an EMS constructed according to the principles described herein intercepts the connection attempt by the sender, and receives information from the sender, such as SMTP information (e.g., sender's IP address).
• Atstep804, the EMS receives similar information, such SMTP information (e.g., the receiver's e-mail address), regarding the intended receiver of the message. Once both sets of data have been received by the EMS, the process moves to astep806, where this data is compared with records in a connection management (conman) table. As discussed above, the records in the table may be updated by an interpreter process based on information held in the data matrix of a traffic monitor. If any blocks on transmissions from the sender have been instituted, a negative response is given atstep806 and the transmission attempt is rejected. Alternatively, if the EMS has established that all messages from a particular sender are not to be accepted, the process may move fromstep802, where the sender's SMTP information is received by the EMS, to step806, where the IP address of the sender is compared with potential disposition flags in the conman table. In this case, the transmission attempt by the sender would be rejected without the need to receive the receivers SMTP information atstep804.
• Atstep806, if no blocks against the sender are found in the conman table, an affirmative response is given and the process moves to step808. Atstep808, the intended recipient's information is validated against a list of users in a user database or directory, as well as a user list in a destination server directory. If the attempted transmission does not contain valid recipient information, a negative response is given atstep808 and the transmission is rejected. Also, even if a valid recipient is found in the user database, if the recipient information is not also validated against the user list in the destination server database, the transmission may be rejected. If validation from both the user database and the destination server database is obtained, an affirmation response is given and the process moves to step810.
• Atstep810, a delivery manager table is queried to determine whether the intended message can be delivered to the destination server. For example, the delivery manager table may be queried to determine if the destination server is capable of receiving the transmission or has it's load limit been reached. If the destination server is not read to receive the message, an affirmation response is given atstep810 and the transmission attempt is deferred for delivery at a later time, once the destination server is ready to receive the message. If the destination server is capable of receiving the message, a negative response is given atstep810 and the process moves to astep812. As indicated in the diagram, data regarding the sender and recipient has been written to the traffic monitor throughout this process.
• Atstep812, all of the data in the attempted transmission is received by the EMS, including header or other routing information, as well as the data forming the intended electronic message to be delivered. The process then moves to step814, where the configuration profile established by rules set forth by, for example, configuration settings for the user or the organization, are read in order to determine how to process the message. Atstep816, applications are employed to perform analysis of the message data to identify unwanted, prohibited or damaging messages. Metadata associated with the results of this processing is written to the traffic monitor and used by the interpreter process to determine patterns or conditions used to establish connection and delivery guidelines. Examples of the metadata created by using the applications are set forth above in Table 1.
• Once the applications have completed the analysis, the process moves to step818, where the results of the application processing are compared against the contents of the configuration database. If the results of the application processing suggest an alternate disposition flag than the flag currently available for the message, a new disposition flag is inserted. Atstep820, the results from step818 are compared to any disposition flags assigned to the message as were set forth in the conman table. If, atstep820, a disposition flag indicating the attempted transmission will not be accepted at this time, the process moves to the appropriate step corresponding with the existing disposition flag in the conman table. More specifically, if the message is to be spooled, the process moves to step822. If the message is to be quarantined, the process moves to step824. If the message is to be sent to a “black hole”, the process moves to step826. If the message is to be deferred, the process moves to step828. If the message is to be redirected, the process moves to step830.
• However, if, atstep820, the records in the conman table establish that the transmission is to be accepted, the process moves to step832. Atstep832, the message is transmitted to the intended destination sever. Atstep834, the message is received by the destination server. Atstep836, the destination server sends an acknowledgment of receipt of the message (an “ACK”) back to the EMS to acknowledge receipt of the message from the delivery manager in the EMS. Finally, atstep838, the EMS transmits an ACK of transmission back to the original sender of the message to inform the sender that the message has been transmitted to the targeted user. The process then ends.
• Those who are skilled in the art will understand that the practice of the proposed process is not limited to the specific steps set forth inFIG. 8. Thus, a greater or lesser number of steps may be employed. Additionally, steps having greater or lesser detail than those illustrated inFIG. 8 may also be employed to advantage.
• Turning now toFIG. 9, illustrated is a flow diagram900 setting forth one embodiment of the procedures employed by theconnection manager322 for use in managing incoming electronic messages. More specifically, the diagram900 illustrates assigning control instructions based on a sending IP address, and configuration parameters for the particular recipient in the organizational hierarchy managed by theEMS203. Theconnection manager322 is initiated into operation by theMPS426, each time theMPS426 detects a new “RCPT” command identifying a new recipient in the traffic stream. The initial operating condition of theconnection manager322 is thus shown in the diagram900, atstep902. Atstep904, theconnection manager322 queries the conman table370 for records having an IID that corresponds to the new recipient. If, atdecision block906, it is determined that the conman table370 contains an entry for the particular IID, control is passed to a secondary control loop in which each IID record is read (step908), examined to see whether it is still active or expired (step910), and acted upon (step912). A single IID may have multiple records, and so the above actions in steps908-912 are repeated as shown in the diagram900, as long as there are additional records for the IID as reflected at decision block914.
• As shown inFIG. 9, a particular recipient may fit at a certain level within a hierarchy, and the particular connection actions can be tailored in this method according to each of these hierarchical levels. Accordingly, atstep916, the particular IID is examined for its membership at a next higher hierarchical level. If there areconnection manager322 records in the conman table370 that are associated with the particular IID at this hierarchical level, then according to the flow of the process fordecision step918, the actions of the loop, steps908-914 are repeated for all of the actions associated with the IID at the higher level. As before, once all actions associated with a given IID at this hierarchical level have been carried out, then control returns to thedecision step920, whereupon the IID relative to the hierarchical levels is examined to see whether the top hierarchical level has been reached. If the highest hierarchical level has been reached, theconnection manager322 returns control to theMPS426.
• Connections may be characterized as a pair of endpoints—sender and recipient. The connections can be managed based on the sender/recipient pair, or they may be managed based on just the recipient identifier. IP address ranges can be used to specify senders and/or recipients, and depending on the location of the indefiniteness, the ranges or indefiniteness can also be used to specify where a particular IP address belongs within a hierarchy. The IP address's membership in sets defined by certain IP address ranges can also be used to define that address's hierarchical organization memberships.
• Connection management records may be inserted on a per-organization basis within the hierarchy, and they may be inherited from higher-level organizations down to lower-level organizations. As described with respect to the process flow ofFIG. 9, the records can be processed in a bottom-up fashion, from a particular organization up to the root organization. When multiple records are present at a single organization, they may be processed in expire-time order, with the ones expiring at the latest date being examined first. Alternatively, they may be processed in a different order depending on how the process is defined.
• Although there are many types of actions or dispositions that can be taken based on the connection requested, as discussed above, some of the common ones include the following:
• • ERROR: An error message is specified and passed back to the sender (e.g., “Error501—unknown user”).
  • QUARANTINE: The message will be quarantined under a specified reason (e.g., obscene, pornographic, or virus-infected).
  • BLACKHOLE: The message will appear to be delivered (i.e., a delivery confirmation is passed to the sender), but will not really go anywhere. Unless further modifications are made, another application may still cause the message to be quarantined.
  • ACCEPT: The message will be accepted and forwarded to the destination server. Unless further modifications are made, another application may still block the message.
  • SPOOL: the email server corresponding to the IID is not responsive, and therefore messages should be written to the spooler
    As described above, theconnection manager322 handles the accepting and making of requested connections in electronic message transactions. The dispositions described above can be implemented by theconnection manager322 by manual configuration through theadministrative console316, or they can be automatically implemented by theinterpreter process350 or another software module. As with the process ofFIG. 8, the practice of the process illustrated inFIG. 9 is not limited to the specific steps set forth therein. Thus, a greater or lesser number of steps may be employed. Additionally, steps having greater or lesser detail than those illustrated inFIG. 9 may also be employed to advantage.
• Looking now atFIG. 10, illustrated is an operational flow diagram1000 of theinterpreter process350, which was also generally described in the text accompanyingFIGS. 3-4. Execution of the process flow for theinterpreter process350 begins atstep1002, which is the sleep state for the process. After a certain period of time, e.g., fifteen seconds, execution of the program flow moves to step1004. Atstep1004, theEMS203 configuration is updated for all the organizations for which theEMS203 is responsible. This process may be referred to as “synchronization.” Atstep1006, theinterpreter process350 begins to analyze the traffic events occurring for each organization identified instep1004. As a part of this action, theEMS203 evaluates the traffic events occurring as reflected in the data stored in thetraffic monitor340.
• The process flow continues atstep1010, where theEMS203 evaluates the event conditions for theparticular EMS203 event rule for the organization under consideration. Atdecision step1012, theinterpreter process350 software queries whether the particular rule is an active one. If the rule is not active, the process flow goes todecision step1014, whereupon the software module queries whether there aremore EMS203 event rules to be processed for the particular organization. If there are nofurther EMS203 event rules for the particular organization, the process flow proceeds todecision step1016, at which the software module queries whether there areadditional EMS203 organizations for which theEMS203 events should be processed. If there are noadditional EMS203 organizations to process, the software module returns operation to the sleep mode atstep1002, which was the beginning of this process flow. If, however, there areadditional EMS203organizations having EMS203 event rules to be processed, then operation would return to step1006, at which the software module will again begin the process of evaluating theEMS203 traffic against theEMS203 event rules for this other organization.
• Again atstep1010, the event conditions are evaluated against eachEMS203 event rule. If, in this case, atdecision step1012 the rule is active, the software flow would proceed to step1020. Atstep1020, theinterpreter process350 evaluates each traffic cell, where a traffic cell is a single connection between a source and a destination, and is represented in thetraffic monitor340 by a single cell in the data table504. Atdecision step1022, if a positive result of the evaluation of the particular traffic cell atstep1020 is positive (“result greater than one”), then execution of theinterpreter process350 algorithm continues todecision step1024. Atdecision step1024, the rule state is evaluated to see whether it has previously been triggered. If it has not, atstep1026, the event execution is begun. If the rule state has already been triggered, then execution of the event will continue atstep1028. In either case operation continues atstep1030, at which time a process is begun for “firing” the actions that are associated with particular event states.
• Atdecision step1032, theinterpreter process350 queries whether that particular action associated with the event already has a state associated with it in the process execution. If no, theinterpreter process350 then queries whether the particular action should be delayed atdecision step1034. If the action should not be delayed, atstep1036, the particular action is “fired” and a state is set indicating the activation of that action. Next, atdecision step1038, theinterpreter process350 queries whether there are additional actions to fire. If so, execution returns to step1030; in this loop,steps1030 to1039 continue until all actions associated with a particular event have been processed. Once there are no more actions to “fire” atstep1038, execution proceeds todecision step1040, whereupon theinterpreter process350 software examines whether there are more traffic cells to be evaluated. If there are additional traffic cells to evaluate, the process returns to step1020. If there are no more traffic cells to evaluate, the process returns todecision step1014, at which it is determined whether there areadditional EMS203 rules to be processed. Based on this decision, the process can continue at previously describedsteps1010 or1016.
• Again evaluating the traffic cells atstep1020, if there is not a positive result atdecision step1022, the process proceeds to step1050, at which theinterpreter process350 queries whether the particular rule state was previously ON. If not, there is no particular action to take with respect to this rule state, and the processing of traffic cells can continue atdecision step1040. If, however, the rule state had previously been ON, but is now OFF, which is the situation indicated by a positive result atdecision step1050, then the process proceeds to step1052 to evaluate the ending procedures for that particular rule state. If a positive result occurs atdecision step1054, then the event end for the particular rule state is processed atstep1056. If, however, there is not an end process to execute as indicated by a negative result atdecision step1054, then the algorithm of theinterpreter process350 will continue to process additional traffic cells throughdecision step1040 and its subsequent branches.
• Now looking atFIG. 11, illustrated are data structures that can be employed in an embodiment of theEMS203 for the real-time monitoring of traffic in thetraffic monitor340. As was shown inFIG. 5, in some embodiments, multiple message handling computer processes320a,320bare employed, whereby multiple connections to asingle traffic monitor340 andinterpreter process350 are processed in parallel.FIG. 11 shows theMPSs426a-426dof multiple such computer processes320a,320bconnected to asingle ring buffer1102, which ultimately provides data in this embodiment for a single traffic monitor. TheMPSs426a-426dsend their data to thering buffer1102 in small, asynchronous blocks of data. The data may be tagged with a time and a session ID in each instance. For example, each block of data might be tagged with a header, “SID8, 00:02,” which would indicate that the session ID issession number 8, and the time for the receipt of the data is 00:02. The session IDs and times shown in this example are merely examples, and session IDs into the hundreds or thousands could be used. In addition, time indicators as precise as thousandths of a second or less could also be used.
• Thering buffer1102 holds all the data generated by theconnection managers322,delivery managers324,MPSs426a-426d, and, in this example, it sorts the data in SID order, which reduces searching overhead during insertion into a later intermediary format and may also provide efficiency when storing data into thering buffer1102. From thering buffer1102, the traffic monitoring data is then stored into anintermediary data structure1110. In thisintermediary data structure1110, the data is placed intogroups1120 associated with the session IDs, where thegroups1120 have records for each connection (C1, C2 . . . CN), and for each message (M1, M2, M3 . . . ) sent over each connection. This data is continually updated with new data from thering buffer1102, and it is continually refreshed when the data is older than the data stored in the actual traffic monitor data matrix1130.
• The structure of the data matrix1130 is only an exemplary format for the traffic monitor data matrix1130, and is maintained for access by theinterpreter process350. Use of theintermediary data structure1110 allows for a more compact traffic monitor data matrix1130, which can be structured so as to have no empty cells. The data matrix1130 is arranged with different IIDs (destinations) populating different rows and with differing Source IPS (SIPs, or sources) as the differing columns within each row. By individually structuring each row with independent column entries for the SIPs, it is possible to build this data table or matrix1130 as shown inFIG. 11, with no empty cells. Then, within each cell, different statistics can be provided, and theinterpreter process350 will be able to recognize certain activity based on the information stored in those cells.
• It may be desirable for both theinterpreter process350 and other resources to have access to the traffic monitor data matrix1130. At least two different mechanisms can be provided to allow access to the contents of the data matrix1130—direct and polled. Through direct access, theinterpreter process350 can lock up a given cell of the data matrix1130 to read that cell's data in real time. Through polled access, a process can be provided for multiple resources to request access to data in the data matrix1130 via a network. The data matrix1130, or a process associated with the data matrix1130, can arbitrate the requests, and at certain periods can lock the requested data in the data matrix1130, and access and send that data to the requesting resources. The data can be requested as raw data, summary data, or it can be requested by a customer mailhost.
• Thus, the presently described system has the ability to map in a data matrix, in real time, all incoming requests and requested destinations, all relevant message parameters (spam, virus, recipients, connection time, data size, destination server return code, etc), as well as to monitor the connection/destination matrix in real time for any number of recipient email addresses or mail servers across multiple customers, and to immediately initiate action automatically based on a real-time monitoring of the state of the traffic monitor data matrix1130. Other system abilities possessed in the described embodiments include the ability to recognize, in real time, all SMTP connections that are being originated in order to request a connection to a recipient mail system, and not just necessarily a single server. The described EMS is also able to use matrix data from one customer/recipient to modify actions for another. For example, if the EMS recognizes a “spammer” based on its actions towards one customer group, the EMS is also able to prevent spam from that source from reaching other destinations.
• Thus, the EMS described herein can handle, filter, and monitor, and react against, in real time, many incoming connections. The EMS is also operable, however, to tune the delivery of messages to a destination mail server based on the loading in that server or on other conditions. It can balance loads among multiple destination servers, spool outgoing messages to destination servers in a controlled manner, and conditionally deliver messages to destination servers based on different conditions.
• Looking next atFIG. 12, illustrated is a spool manager comprising three MPSs, as described below. The Spool Delivery Manager is invoked by an MPS plug-in that runs on the message handling computer process of the EMS, and works in harmony with the connection manager to determine whether or not messages should be spooled. With reference toFIG. 12, the Spool Delivery Manager functions as follows:
• • 1) To initiate spooling, a SPOOL connection management record must be inserted for an organization, either manually through the UI or automatically by the interpreter process, if it detects the organization mail server is unreachable.
  • 2) The connection manager assigns a SPOOL tag to each message sent to an organization for which there exists a SPOOL connection management record in the conman table.
  • 3) The Spool Delivery Manager examines each incoming message for a “Spool” tag.
  • 4) If a Spool tag exists for a message, the Spool Delivery Manager blocks the message from being delivered, and instead relays the message to a spool server using the Spooler.
• The Spooler is a modified MPS application running on the spool server that accepts messages from the Spool Delivery Manager, and stores them in a spool repository. With reference toFIG. 12, the Spooler functions as follows:
• • 1) The Spooler waits for an SMTP connection request from the Spool Delivery Manager.
  • 2) Each incoming SMTP command, including the raw message data, is stored in the organization's (i.e., recipient's) spool repository.
  • 3) If the spool size reaches one of several predefined spool size checkpoints (e.g. 75% of capacity), an alert notification is generated.
  • 4) If after storing the message, the spool size exceeds the maximum allocated spool size for the organization, an alert notification is generated, and the spool connection management record is removed, preventing subsequent messages from being spooled.
  • 5) If a spool tag exists for a message, the Spool Delivery Manager blocks the message from being delivered, and instead relays the message to the spool server using an SMTP connection.
• The Despooler is also a modified MPS application running on the spool server that accepts messages from the Spool Delivery Manager, and stores them in a spool repository. To this end, the Despooler functions as follows:
• • 1) The Despooler waits for an SMTP connection request from the Spool Delivery Manager.
  • 2) Each incoming SMTP command, including the raw message data, is stored in the traffic monitor.
  • 3) Spool Delivery Manager in order to maintain proper connection limiting to the organization.
  • 4) If the message is rejected by the organization, the Despooler will bounce the message to the original sender.
  • 5) If a message is successfully delivered, it is tagged “delivered” in the spool repository.
    Steps 2-5 are repeated until all messages in the spool repository have been delivered.
• Referring now toFIG. 13, illustrated is ascreen shot1300 of an example access page for an administrative console for use with an EMS according to the present invention. As shown from the access page is available to users and/or system administrators for monitoring of statistics and alarms occurring in their electronic messaging networks. In addition, the access page may be employed by users and/or system administrators for the configuration of rules employed by the EMS to manage the transmission of electronic messages. The particular access page shown here includes multiple access tabs, including “Connection Mgr”, “Delivery Mgr”, “Spool Mgr”, Alerts” and “Reports”. In addition to accessing these individual components of the EMS, the access page inFIG. 13 provides status of the individual components, as well as an overview of the flow of electronic messages into the system.
• Turning briefly toFIG. 14, illustrated is ascreen shot1400 of an example page for monitoring and configuring a connection manager used in an EMS according to the present invention. As shown, this access page displays the status of the connection manager in an EMS, as well as providing statistics of particular transmission violations that have occurred. Although the particular offending activities illustrated are only directory harvest attacks, virus outbreaks, e-mail bombs and spam attacks, the access page may be configured to illustrated statistics of other types of offending behaviors without limitation.
• FIG. 15 is ascreen shot1500 of another example access page for a connection manager used in an EMS of the present invention. As shown, this access page provides definitions for specific offending actions of incoming electronic messages to assist users in configuring the EMS as their needs arise. In addition, this access page also includes various detection and prevention selections, allowing users a broader range of choices for the management of their incoming electronic messages.
• Looking atFIG. 16, illustrated is ascreen shot1600 of an example page for monitoring and configuring a delivery manager used in an EMS according to the present invention. This access page displays the status of the delivery manager in an EMS, as well as providing statistics of particular delivery (or non-delivery) actions taken by the EMS in response to offending activities of incoming messages. In addition, this access page allows users to monitor the status of distinct destination servers, for example, to determine the free capacity of such destination servers.
• Turning finally toFIG. 17, illustrated is a screen shot of another example page for a delivery manager used in an EMS. As shown, this access page allows the user to configure specific details of the individual destination servers shown inFIG. 16. Configuration parameters that may be altered through this access page include connection capacities, as well as adding new destination servers to the EMS to enjoy the protection provided by the present invention.
• While various embodiments of an EMS constructed according to the principles disclosed herein, as well as specific components of the EMS, have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims (35)

1. In a messaging system, a method of implementing message rules, comprising:

receiving a message at a receiving component;

ascertaining a confidence level that the received message is an undesired message based on a content thereof; and

executing one or more actions based on the confidence level, wherein at least one of the one or more actions is defined by a user.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more actions are executed at an execution component.

3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the receiving component and the execution component are associated with an intermediate mail server.

4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the intermediate mail server is operationally interposed between a sending mail server and a receiving mail server.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein ascertaining the confidence level comprises extrapolating metadata from the received message based upon the content thereof.

6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein executing the one or more actions comprises comparing the confidence level associated with the extrapolated metadata to a threshold value and selectively executing the one or more actions based on the comparison result.

7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the threshold value comprises or is a function of one or more user-defined configuration parameters.

8. The method ofclaim 1, where the one or more actions comprises one or more of:

accepting the message;

rejecting the message;

quarantining the message;

spooling the message;

deferring the message;

throttling the message; or

redirecting the message.

9. In a messaging system configured to execute one or more actions with respect to a received message based on a confidence level assigned to the received message, a method comprising:

through a user interface, allowing a user to set a threshold value to be compared against the assigned confidence level, wherein the assigned confidence level is generated based on a content of the received message and defines a rating of the received message with respect to whether the received message contains unwanted data;

through the user interface, allowing a user to assign one or more actions to comparison results associated with the confidence level, wherein the one or more actions define a disposition of the received message when the assigned confidence level exceeds the user-defined threshold value; and

implementing the one or more actions when the confidence level of a received message exceeds the confidence level.

10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein setting the threshold value comprises allowing a user to provide configuration parameters via an administrative console associated with the messaging system.

11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the confidence level associated with the received message is assigned by extrapolating metadata from a content of the received message.

12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein assigning one or more actions comprises:

configuring one or more rules to apply to the associated confidence level; and

associating one or more disposition instructions to the rules based upon the application result.

13. A method for delivery of electronic messages, comprising:

receiving a message;

evaluating a content of the received message, thereby ascertaining a confidence level that the received message is an undesired message; and

selectively initiating an action with respect to the received message based on the evaluation.

14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein evaluating the received messages is performed at an intermediate server interposed between a sending mail server and a receiving mail server.

15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein selectively initiating the action comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of disposition instructions based on the evaluation; and

executing the selected disposition instruction on the received message.

16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein selecting one of a plurality of disposition instructions comprises updating a record in a connection management table.

17. The method ofclaim 15, wherein an association between the evaluation and the plurality of disposition instructions is at least partially defined by a user.

18. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the association is defined by the user via user selected configuration parameters, thereby defining user-defined thresholds.

19. The method ofclaim 15, wherein executing the selected disposition instruction comprises one or more of:

accepting the message;

rejecting the message;

quarantining the message;

spooling the message;

deferring the message;

throttling the message; or

redirecting the message.

20. In a messaging system, a method comprising:

receiving a message at a receiving module of the messaging system; and

extrapolating metadata from a content of the message, wherein the extrapolated metadata reflects a likelihood that the received message is an unwanted message.

21. The method ofclaim 20, further comprising evaluating the extrapolated metadata in accordance with one or more user-defined configuration parameters.

22. The method ofclaim 21, wherein evaluating the extrapolated metadata further comprises initiating an action with respect to the message based on the evaluation and the user-defined configuration parameters.

23. The method ofclaim 22, wherein the actions are user-defined based on the user-defined configuration parameters.

24. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the user-defined actions comprise one or more of:

accepting the message;

rejecting the message;

quarantining the message;

spooling the message;

deferring the message;

throttling the message; or

redirecting the message.

25. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the user-defined actions comprise one or more rules and one or more corresponding actions based on one or more of the rules being satisfied.

26. The method ofclaim 25, wherein at least one of the one or more rules contain a threshold.

27. The method ofclaim 26, wherein the threshold comprises a user-defined threshold.

28. In a messaging system, a method of configuring the messaging system for delivery of electronic messages, comprising:

through an administrative console, allowing a user to set configuration parameters to be employed in evaluating a content of a received message; and

through the administrative console, allowing a user to set message processing actions based on the message content evaluation.

29. The method ofclaim 28, wherein allowing the user to set configuration parameters comprises allowing the user to set a threshold to be compared against one or more characteristics associated with the content of the received message.

30. The method ofclaim 29, wherein the one or more characteristics reflect a confidence level indicating a likelihood that the received message is an undesired message.

31. The method ofclaim 28, wherein the configuration parameters comprise rules to reject received messages comprising SPAM.

32. The method ofclaim 28, wherein the message processing actions comprise one or more of:

accepting the message;

rejecting the message;

quarantining the message;

spooling the message;

deferring the message;

throttling the message; or

redirecting the message.

33. The method ofclaim 28, wherein the administrative console comprises a user-accessible web page configured to prompt a user to set one or more configuration parameters for evaluating the content of received messages associated with the user.

34. The method ofclaim 28, wherein a location of the user-accessible web page and the messaging system are different.

35. The method ofclaim 28, wherein a location of the message content evaluation and the message processing actions are different.

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