Granted Patent B2

US 7,694,128 · App. 10/384,924 · Granted Apr 6, 2010

Abstract

Claims (91)

1. A computer-implemented method for secure delivery of electronic communications, the method comprising:

a) receiving an electronic communication from a communication source through a communication interface, the communication for delivery to a predetermined recipient, and storing the communication in a data store;

b) selecting, using at least one processor coupled to the data store, a delivery mechanism from among a plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon a prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms; and

c) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the selected delivery mechanism;

wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms comprises:

(a) a base delivery mechanism; and

(b) at least one security option and wherein the prioritization of delivery mechanisms is based upon the at least one security option associated with each delivery mechanism.

2. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of d) determining the plurality of delivery mechanisms.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of determining the plurality comprises the step of determining the plurality based upon the communication source, the predetermined recipient, a default configuration or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 2 , and further comprising the step of e) prioritizing the determined plurality of delivery mechanisms.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of prioritizing the determined plurality comprises the step of prioritizing the determined plurality based upon a rating associated with each delivery mechanism in the determined plurality.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the rating is based upon a criterion selected from the group consisting of delivery efficiency, delivery cost, delivery security and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base mechanism is selected from the group consisting of instant messaging, SMTP, HTTP, and FTP, and wherein each base delivery mechanism has at least one security option.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the prioritization places delivery mechanisms including S/MIME as a security option first, delivery mechanisms including PGP as a security option but not S/MIME second, and delivery mechanisms including TLS or SSL as a security option but neither PGP nor S/MIME third.

9. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of d) retrieving the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanism based upon the predetermined recipient.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein each delivery mechanism has an associated rating and wherein the step of retrieving the prioritization comprises the steps of:

1) identifying delivery mechanisms available for delivery of the received communication based upon the predetermined recipient; and

2) prioritizing the identified delivery mechanisms based upon the rating associated with each identified delivery mechanism.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the rating associated with each delivery mechanism is based upon a criterion selected from the group consisting of delivery efficiency, delivery cost, delivery security and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of d) retrieving the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the communication source.

13. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the steps of d) providing the communication source with an interface for designating a prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms and e) receiving the prioritization from the provided interface.

14. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the steps of d) providing an administrator with an interface for designating a prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms and e) receiving the prioritization from the provided interface.

15. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of d) if delivery fails, attempting to redeliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient by the steps comprising:

1) selecting a further delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms; and

2) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the further delivery mechanism.

16. The method of claim 15 , and if the received communication is determined to require secure delivery, further comprising the step of e) repeating step d) until the received communication is successfully delivered or until exhaustion of all available delivery mechanisms in the plurality.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms comprises a base mechanism and at least one security option and wherein each base mechanism is selected from the group consisting of instant messaging, SMTP, HTTP, and FTP.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein each SMTP delivery mechanism in the plurality includes a security option selected from the group consisting of S/MIME, POP, TLS, SSL and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein one or more SMTP delivery mechanisms are SMTP notification mechanisms and wherein the security option is HTTP presentment including one or more encryption options selected from the group consisting of S/MIME, HTTP-S, TLS, SSL and combinations thereof.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein a subset of the SMTP notification mechanisms include a further security option associated with delivery of the SMTP notification, wherein the further security option is selected from the group consisting of S/MIME, PGP, TLS, SSL and combinations thereof

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the HTTP presentment security option further includes one or more user authentication requirements.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein each HTTP delivery mechanism in the plurality includes a security option selected from the group consisting of S/MIME, HTTP-S, TLS, SSL and combinations thereof.

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein each FTP delivery mechanism in the plurality includes a security option selected from the group consisting of TLS and SSL.

24. The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms employs a message level encryption technique.

25. The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms employs a channel level encryption technique.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms further employs a message level encryption technique.

27. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of d) determining whether the received communication requires secure delivery and wherein steps b) and c) occur if the received communication is determined to require secure delivery.

28. The method of claim 27 , and if the received communication is determined to require secure delivery, further comprising the steps of e) providing the communication source with an interface for designating a prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms and f) receiving the prioritization from the provided interface.

29. The method of claim 27 , wherein determining whether the received communication requires secure delivery comprises the steps of:

i) parsing the received communication for indicia indicating a desire for secure delivery; and

ii) specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery based upon the parsing.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the step of specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery based upon the parsing comprises specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery if one or more predetermined keywords are parsed from the received communication.

31. The method of claim 29 , wherein the parsing step is performed only on a header portion within the received communication and wherein the step of specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery based upon the parsing comprises specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery if one or more predetermined keywords are parsed from the header.

32. The method of claim 29 , wherein the step of parsing the received communication for indicia indicating a desire for secure delivery comprises the step of applying one or more filtering rules to the received communication.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein each of the one or more filtering rules is a content filtering rule, an attachment filtering rule, a source filtering rule or a recipient filtering rule.

34. The method of claim 27 , wherein determining whether the received communication requires secure delivery comprises the step of specifying the received communication as requiring secure delivery based upon a configuration specified by an administrator.

35. The method of claim 34 , wherein the configuration comprises one or more filtering rules, wherein each such rule is of a type selected from the group consisting of a content filtering rule, an attachment filtering rule, a source filtering rule, a communication size filtering rule, a recipient filtering rule and combinations thereof.

36. A system for securely delivering electronic communications, the system comprising:

a) a system data store capable of storing at least one electronic communication and configuration data associated with a plurality of delivery mechanisms;

b) an interface to a communication network that supports the system's communication with one or more client applications;

c) a system processor in communication with the system data store and the interface, wherein the system processor comprises one or more processing elements and wherein the one or more processing elements are programmed or adapted to:

i) receive an electronic communication from a communication source for delivery to a predetermined recipient via the interface;

ii) store the received communication;

iii) determine whether the received communication requires secure delivery based upon the received communication, the predetermined recipient, the communication source, default configuration data or combinations thereof; and

iv) if the received communication is determined to require secure delivery,

1) determine a plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the communication source, the predetermined recipient, a default configuration or combinations thereof, wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms comprises a base mechanism and at least one security option and wherein each base mechanism is selected from the group consisting of instant messaging, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, and SMTP notification with HTTP presentment and wherein each security options is a channel level encryption, a message level encryption or a combination thereof;

2) prioritize the delivery mechanisms in the plurality in an order corresponding to most secure to least secure concurrent with, or subsequent to, determining the plurality of delivery mechanisms;

3) select a delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization;

4) attempt to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the selected delivery mechanism using the interface or a second interface allowing communication between the system and a second communication network;

5) if delivery fails, attempt to redeliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient by at least:

(a) selecting a further delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms;

(b) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the further delivery mechanism; and

(c) repeating (a) and (b) until exhaustion of delivery mechanisms in the plurality.

37. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base delivery mechanism is selected based on the prioritization of the security option.

38. A system for securely delivering electronic communications, the system comprising:

a) interface means for allowing communication between the system and one or more client applications;

b) storage means for providing data storage capacity sufficient to store at least one communication and configuration data associated with a plurality of delivery mechanisms;

c) means for receiving a communication via interface means and storing the communication in the storage means;

d) determining means for determining whether a received communication requires secure delivery based upon the received communication, the predetermined recipient, the communication source, default configuration data or combinations thereof;

e) delivery means for:

i) determining a plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the communication source, the predetermined recipient, a default configuration or combinations thereof, wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms comprises a base mechanism and at least one security option and wherein each base mechanism is selected from the group consisting of instant messaging, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, and SMTP notification with HTTP presentment and wherein each security options is a channel level encryption, a message level encryption or a combination thereof;

ii) concurrent with, or subsequent to, determining the plurality of delivery mechanisms, prioritizing the delivery mechanisms in the plurality in an order corresponding to most secure to least secure;

iii) selecting a delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization;

iv) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the selected delivery mechanism; and

v) if delivery fails, attempting to redeliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient by the steps comprising:

1) selecting a further delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms;

2) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the further delivery mechanism; and

3) repeating 1) and 2) until exhaustion of delivery mechanisms in the plurality wherein the delivery means comprises encryption means for providing channel level,

message level or channel and message level encryption.

39. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that upon execution by a system processor comprising one or more processing elements cause the one or more processing elements to securely deliver electronic messages by:

a) receiving an electronic communication from a communication source for delivery to a predetermined recipient;

b) determining whether the received communication requires secure delivery based upon the received communication, the predetermined recipient, the communication source, default configuration data or combinations thereof; and

c) if the received communication is determined to require secure delivery,

i) determining a plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the communication source, the predetermined recipient, a default configuration or combinations thereof, wherein each of the plurality of delivery mechanisms comprises a base mechanism and at least one security option and wherein each base mechanism is selected from the group consisting of instant messaging, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, and SMTP notification with HTTP presentment and wherein each security options is a channel level encryption, a message level encryption or a combination thereof;

ii) concurrent with, or subsequent to, determining the plurality of delivery mechanisms, prioritizing the delivery mechanisms in the plurality in an order corresponding to most secure to least secure;

iii) selecting a delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization;

iv) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the selected delivery mechanism; and

v) if delivery fails, attempting to redeliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient by the steps comprising:

1) selecting a further delivery mechanism from among the plurality of delivery mechanisms based upon the prioritization of the plurality of delivery mechanisms; and

2) attempting to deliver the electronic communication to the predetermined recipient via the further delivery mechanism; and

vi) repeating step v) until exhaustion of delivery mechanisms in the plurality.

Assignments (14)