Pre-validating an email recipient and domain

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store computer logic having instructions that enable a processing device to perform steps of:

obtaining a recipient email address entered in an address field of an email message that is being composed by a sender; and

checking validity of the recipient email address and a domain associated with the recipient email address, by communicating with a certificate authority (CA)-based email coordinator that maintains a directory of validated domains and validated users, to identify one or more possible issues in the recipient email address before the email message is permitted to leave a sender's device, wherein the checking further comprises applying machine learning models to analyze both the recipient address and contextual content of the email body to determine consistency between the recipient domain and the content,

wherein determining consistency comprises: (i) scanning the email body to identify one or more words or phrases indicative of a message context, (ii) determining, based at least in part on the directory of validated domains and validated users, whether the identified message context correlates with the recipient domain or a recipient identity associated with the recipient email address, and (iii) when the correlation fails a threshold, generating an alert that requests confirmation that the sender intends to send the email message to the recipient email address.

2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein, upon identifying one or more possible issues in the recipient email address, the instructions further enable the processing device to perform a step of alerting the sender to the one or more possible issues.

3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further enable the processing device to perform steps of:

allowing the sender to enter an option to flag the recipient email address as either valid or invalid; and

storing a valid flag or invalid flag along with the recipient email address based on the option entered by the sender.

4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the step of alerting the sender to the one or more possible issues includes steps of:

communicating the one or more possible issues in a pop-up window; and

presenting one or more selectable buttons in the pop-up window for receiving input from the sender.

5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the step of checking validity of the recipient email address includes steps of:

comparing the recipient email address with one or more email addresses previously stored in a database; and

based on the step of comparing the recipient email address with the one or more email addresses, determining a likelihood that the recipient email address includes a typographical error based at least in part on edit-distance measures and detection of look-alike domains.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the step of determining the likelihood of a typographical error includes a step of analyzing one or more of a Top-Level Domain (TLD), a country code TLD (ccTLD), a root domain, and a look-alike domain of the recipient email address and the one or more email addresses.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the steps of comparing and determining involve Machine Learning (ML) procedures, including text recognition models trained to detect typographical patterns and domain substitutions.

8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the processing device to perform steps of:

extracting a domain from a first portion of the recipient email address to determine if the domain is valid and exists; and

extracting a recipient from a second portion of the recipient email address to determine if the recipient is valid and exists.

9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further enable the processing device to perform steps of:

determining a certification status of the domain; and

informing the sender whether or not the domain includes a certificate issued by a Certification Authority (CA), including a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), an S/MIME certificate, or validation obtained through synchronization with an Identity Access Management (IAM) or Active Directory (AD) service.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the processing device to perform the steps of obtaining the recipient email address and checking validity of the recipient email address after the sender has a) pressed a first button associated with sending the email message, b) pressed a second button associated with validating an email recipient, or c) entered the recipient email address in the address field.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions include one or more plug-ins associated with one or more of a Message User Agent (MUA), a Message Submission Agent (MSA), and a Message Transfer Agent (MTA), including a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), an S/MIME certificate, or validation obtained through synchronization with an Identity Access Management (IAM) or Active Directory (AD) service.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the processing device to perform a step of sending the email message after validation is confirmed and the one or more possible issues have been resolved, wherein a send control element is withheld from the user interface until successful validation occurs.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer logic is executed on top of the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP).

14 . An email coordinator comprising:

a processing device, and

a memory device configured to store a computer program having instructions that, when executed, enable the processing device to

obtain a recipient email address entered in an address field of an email message that is being composed by a sender, and

check validity of the recipient email address, by communicating with a certificate authority (CA)-based email coordinator that maintains a directory of validated domains and validated users, to identify one or more possible issues in the recipient email address before the email message is permitted to leave a sender's device, wherein the checking further comprises applying machine learning models to analyze both the recipient address and contextual content of the email body to determine consistency between the recipient domain and the content,

wherein determining consistency comprises: (i) scanning the email body to identify one or more words or phrases indicative of a message context, (ii) determining, based at least in part on the directory of validated domains and validated users, whether the identified message context correlates with the recipient domain or a recipient identity associated v with the recipient email address, and (iii) when the correlation fails a threshold, genera an alert that requests confirmation that the sender intends to send the email message to the recipient email address.

15 . The email coordinator of claim 14 , wherein the email coordinator is arranged in a cloud-based email server.

16 . The email coordinator of claim 14 , wherein, upon identifying one or more possible issues in the recipient email address, the instructions further enable the processing device to perform steps of:

alerting the sender to the one or more possible issues;

allowing the sender to enter an option to flag the recipient email address as either valid or invalid; and

storing a valid flag or invalid flag along with the recipient email address based on the option entered by the sender.

17 . The email coordinator of claim 14 , wherein checking validity of the recipient email address includes steps of:

comparing the recipient email address with one or more email addresses previously stored in a database; and

based on the step of comparing the recipient email address with the one or more email addresses, determining a likelihood that the recipient email address includes a typographical error in one or more of a Top-Level Domain (TLD), a country code TLD (ccTLD), a root domain, and a look-alike domain of the recipient email address with respect to the one or more email addresses.

18 . A method comprising steps of:

obtaining a recipient email address entered in an address field of an email message that is being composed by a sender; and

checking validity of the recipient email address, by communicating with a certificate authority (CA)-based email coordinator that maintains a directory of validated domains and validated users, to identify one or more possible issues in the recipient email address before the email message is permitted to leave a sender's device, wherein the checking further comprises applying machine learning models to analyze both the recipient address and contextual content of the email body to determine consistency between the recipient domain and the content,

wherein determining consistency comprises: (i) scanning the email body to identify one or more words or phrases indicative of a message context, (ii) determining, based at least in part the directory of validated domains and validated users, whether the identified message context correlates with the recipient domain or a recipient identity associated with the recipient email address, and (iii) when the correlation fails a threshold, generating an alert that requests confirmation that the sender intends to send the email message to the recipient email address.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising steps of:

extracting a domain from a first portion of the recipient email address to determine if the domain is valid and exists;

extracting a recipient from a second portion of the recipient email address to determine if the recipient is valid and exists;

determining a certification status of the domain; and

informing the sender whether or not the domain includes a certificate issued by a Certification Authority (CA), wherein the CA maintains a cloud-based directory of validated domains and validated users that is continuously updated to reflect onboarding and offboarding of users.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the steps of obtaining the recipient email address and checking validity of the recipient email address are executed in response to the sender a) pressing a first button associated with sending the email message, b) pressing a second button associated with validating an email recipient, or c) entering the recipient email address in the address field.