Method and apparatus to block spam based on spam reports from a community of users
View Patent ↗In one embodiment, a method for operating a server is provided. The method comprises receiving a plurality of reports from a community of users, each report identifying an email message as spam or not spam; and determining if the email message is spam based on a number of the reports received from the community of users, and a trust factor associated with each user.
1. A method, comprising:
a community of users generating a plurality of reports, said generating comprising, for each of the plurality of reports,
generating at least one signature based on a content of an email message,
adding the at least one signature to a respective report; and
identifying the email message as spam or not spam in the respective report;
receiving the plurality of reports from the community of users; and
determining if the email message is spam based on a number of the reports received from the community of users, and a trust factor associated with each user.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a database of email messages determined as being spam.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising providing notifications to the community of users of email messages stored in the database and determined as being spam.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
using the at least one signature as a key to store the email message in the database if the email message is determined to be spam.
5. The server of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises:
using the at least one signature as a key to store the email message in the database if the email message is determined to be spam.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein each notification is in response to a request received from a user in the community for an indication on whether an identified message is spam.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trust factor is based on an indication of how accurately previous reports sent by the user identified email messages as spam.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signature comprises a hash calculated based on the content of the email message.
9. A server, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, comprising:
generating a plurality of reports in response to requests from a community of users, said generating comprising, for each of the plurality of reports,
generating at least one signature based on a content of an email message,
adding the at least one signature to a respective report; and
identifying the email message as spam or not spam in the respective report;
receiving the plurality of reports from the community of users; and
determining if the email message is spam based on a number of the reports received from the community of users, and a trust factor associated with each user.
10. The server of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises maintaining a database of email messages determined as being spam.
11. The server of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises providing notifications to the community of users of email messages stored in the database and determined as being spam.
12. The server of claim 11 , wherein each notification is in response to a request received from a user in the community for an indication on whether an identified message is spam.
13. The server of claim 9 , wherein the trust factor is based on an indication of how accurately previous reports sent by the sender identified email messages as spam.
14. The server of claim 9 , wherein the at least one signature comprises a hash calculated based on the content of the email message.
15. A recordable-type medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:
generating a plurality of reports in response to requests from a community of users, said generating comprising, for each of the plurality of reports,
generating at least one signature based on a content of an email message,
adding the at least one signature to a respective report; and
identifying the email message as spam or not spam in the respective report;
receiving the plurality of reports from the community of users; and
determining if the email message is spam based on a number of the reports received from the community of users, and a trust factor associated with each user.
16. The recordable-type medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises maintaining a database of email messages determined as being spam.
17. The recordable-type medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises providing notifications to the community of users of email messages stored in the database and determined as being spam.
18. The recordable-type medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
using the at least one signature as a key to store the email message in the database if the email message is determined to be spam.
19. The recordable-type medium of claim 17 , wherein each notification is in response to a request received from a user in the community for an indication on whether an identified message is spam.
20. The recordable-type medium of claim 16 , wherein the trust factor is based on an indication of how accurately previous reports sent by the sender identified email messages as spam.
21. The recordable-type medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one signature comprises a hash calculated based on the content of the email message.