Message classification using allowed items
View Patent ↗A system and method are disclosed for classifying a message. The method includes receiving the message, identifying all items of a certain type in the message, determining whether each of the items meets a criterion, and in the event that all the items are determined to meet the criterion, determining a classification of the message. The system includes an interface configured to receive the message, a processor coupled to the interface, configured to identify all items of a certain type in the message; determine whether each of the items meets a criterion; and in the event that all the items are determined to meet the criterion, determine a classification of the message.
1. A method for classifying an e-mail message, the method comprising:
tracking one or more user designations concerning validity of the e-mail message;
determining a probability of validity based on the tracked user designations concerning the validity of the e-mail message;
determining that the e-mail message includes a valid certificate of authenticity;
identifying from the valid certificate a classification concerning a sender of the e-mail message;
generating one or more signatures based on contact information in the e-mail message;
providing the sender classification and the one or more signatures to a database used to classify a subsequently received e-mail message when the probability exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
removing the sender classification and the one or more signatures from the database when the probability falls below the predetermined threshold.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising evaluating the e-mail message to determine whether the message is spam.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving information concerning the e-mail message by intercepting the e-mail message.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving information concerning the e-mail message by extracting the information from stored e-mail messages.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the e-mail message includes a valid certificate further comprises receiving a user designation concerning validity of the e-mail message.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating one or more signatures further comprises:
determining a canonical equivalent of the contact information; and
generating the one or more signatures based on the canonical equivalent.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising classifying the subsequently received e-mail message based on a match between contact information in the subsequently received e-mail message and information in the database.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising customizing the database to a user, wherein customizing the database comprises:
receiving a user designation concerning a subset of the database; and
classifying e-mail messages sent to the user based on information in the designated subset of the database.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the user designation comprises receiving a criterion from the user concerning e-mail messages in the database and further comprising determining the subset of the database based on the criterion received from the user.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering the subsequently received message based on the classification of the subsequently received message.
11. An apparatus for classifying an e-mail message, the apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store a database for classifying e-mail messages;
an interface configured to receive one or more user designations concerning validity of the e-mail message; and
a processor configured to execute software to:
track the one or more user designations concerning validity of the e-mail Message;
determine a probability of validity based on the tracked user designations concerning the validity of the e-mail message;
determine that the e-mail message includes a valid certificate of authenticity;
identify from the valid certificate a classification concerning a sender of the e-mail message;
generate one or more signatures based on contact information in the e-mail message;
provide the sender classification and the one or more signatures to the database stored in the memory when the probability exceeds a predetermined threshold, and
remove the sender classification and the one or more signatures from the database when the probability falls below the predetermined threshold.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute software to:
determine a canonical equivalent of the contact information; and
generate the one or more signatures based on the canonical equivalent.
13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to customize the database to a user by:
receiving a user designation concerning a subset of the database; and
classifying e-mail messages sent to the user based on information in the designated subset of the database.
14. A computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for classifying an e-mail message, the method comprising:
tracking one or more user designations concern validity of the e-mail message;
determining a probability of validity based on the tracked user designations concerning the validity of the e-mail message;
determining that the e-mail message includes a valid certificate of authenticity;
identifying from the valid certificate a classification concerning a sender of the e-mail message;
generating one or more signatures based on contact information in the e-mail message;
providing the sender classification and the one or more signatures to a database used to classify a subsequently received e-mail message when the probability exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
removing the sender classification and the one or more signatures from the database when the probability falls below the predetermined threshold.