Message challenge response
View Patent ↗A system and method are disclosed for registering a email sender for the purpose of sending an email message to an email receiver including receiving a challenge message wherein the challenge message includes a machine answerable question; processing the challenge message to determine that it is a challenge message sent for the purpose of authorizing delivery of the email message; analyzing the question to determine a valid response to the challenge message; and sending the valid response that includes the answer wherein a nontrivial amount of resources are required to send the valid response.
1. A method of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the method comprising:
receiving an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient;
executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of an independent third-party auditor generates a challenge message in response to an e-mail message received by the e-mail recipient, wherein the challenge message does not invite a response to the challenge message from the e-mail sender;
sending the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receiving a bounce error message associated with the challenge message within a predetermined period of time after the sending of the challenge message, wherein the bounce error message is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor; and
sending a report generated by the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating receipt of the bounce error message during the predetermined period of time, wherein the e-mail recipient classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender based on the report.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the e-mail recipient also processes registration of the e-mail sender based on the report.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the e-mail recipient does not register the e-mail sender based on the report.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the report indicates that the e-mail sender is a spammer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the e-mail recipient classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender as spam messages based on the report.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the report includes instructions to the e-mail recipient.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge message is a reply to the e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient, the reply acknowledging receipt of the email.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein classifying e-mail messages from the e-mail sender includes deleting the e-mail messages from the e-mail sender.
9. A system of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the system comprising:
an independent third-party auditor server that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of the independent third-party auditor generates a challenge message in response to an e-mail message received by an e-mail recipient, the e-mail sent by an e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient, wherein the challenge message does not invite a response to the challenge message from the e-mail sender; and
a network interface coupled to the independent third-party auditor server that receives the e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient, wherein the network interface:
sends the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receives a bounce error message associated with the challenge message within a predetermined period of time after the sending of the challenge message, wherein the bounce error message is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor server; and
sends a report generated by the independent third-party auditor server to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating receipt of the bounce error message during the predetermined period of time, wherein the e-mail recipient processes registration of the e-mail sender based on the report.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the e-mail recipient does not register the e-mail sender based on the report.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the e-mail recipient further classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender based on the report.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the e-mail recipient classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender as spam messages based on the report.
13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the report indicates that the e-mail sender is a spammer.
14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the report includes instructions to the e-mail recipient.
15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the challenge message is a reply to the e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient, the reply acknowledging receipt of the email.
16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the bounce error message includes an e-mail non-delivery message.
17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, wherein the program is executable by a processor to perform a method of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the method comprising:
receiving an e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient;
executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of an independent third-party auditor generates a challenge message in response to an e-mail message received by the e-mail recipient, wherein the challenge message does not invite a response to the challenge message from the e-mail sender;
sending the challenge message to the e-mail sender;
receiving a bounce error message associated with the challenge message within a predetermined period of time after the sending of the challenge message, wherein the bounce error message is evaluated by the independent third-party auditor; and
sending a report generated by the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient, the report indicating receipt of the bounce error message during the predetermined period of time, wherein the e-mail recipient classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender based on the report.
18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the e-mail recipient does not register the e-mail sender based on the report.
19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the e-mail recipient further classifies e-mail messages from the e-mail sender based on the report.
20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the challenge message is a reply to the e-mail sent by the e-mail sender to the e-mail recipient, the reply acknowledging receipt of the email.