IP Library Granted Patent US 12,495,013
Granted Patent B2
US 12,495,013 · App. 17/480,430 · Granted Dec 9, 2025

Interactive email warning tags

Inventors: Alan James Himler (Pittsburgh, PA); Mark Wuslich (Aliquippa, PA); Sharankumar Hiremath (Campbell, CA)
Assignee: Proofpoint, Inc.
H04L51/212G06N5/022G06Q10/107H04L63/1441
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,495,013
App. No.
17/480,430
Granted
Dec 9, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to providing a flexible and automated system for automatically detecting when emails include harmful content, flagging the emails, providing interactive reporting functionality, and providing follow-up enforcement actions to protect users. A computing platform may intercept an email in transit to an email server. Subsequently, the computing platform may analyze the email and generate at least one unique link for reporting suspicious content associated with the email. Next, the computing platform may generate an email warning tag comprising text information and the at least one unique link for reporting the suspicious content associated with the email. Then, the computing platform may inject the email warning tag into the email to produce a modified email comprising content from the email and the email warning tag, and may send the modified email to the email server.

Claims (88)

1 . A method comprising:

at a message security computing platform comprising a network interface, one or more processors, and memory storing computer readable instructions:

intercepting, by the network interface, an email in transit to an email server;

analyzing, by the one or more processors, the email, wherein the analyzing the email comprises:

using a machine learning model to generate a suspicious email score based on features derived from the email,

wherein the machine learning model is trained using a labeled training data set correlating features of training emails with labels indicating a suspicious email score of each training email;

based on the analyzing:

generating, by the one or more processors, at least one unique selectable link, wherein the at least one unique selectable link is selectable by a user for reporting suspicious content associated with the email; and

generating, by the one or more processors, an email warning tag comprising text information and the at least one unique selectable link;

injecting, by the one or more processors, the email warning tag into the email, wherein injecting the email warning tag into the email produces a modified email comprising content from the email and the email warning tag; and

sending, via the network interface, the modified email comprising the content from the email and the email warning tag to the email server.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first unique selectable link, the method further comprising:

receiving, from a user device associated with an email address specified by the email, a selection of the first unique selectable link in the email warning tag;

based on the selection, flagging the email as a malicious email; and

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing the email from an inbox associated with the email address.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising, based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing other emails sent by a sender of the email from the inbox.

4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising, based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing other emails sent by a sender of the email from inboxes associated with other email addresses.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the email warning tag is formatted according to a markup language, wherein the at least one unique link is associated with at least one button tag defined by the markup language.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the at least one unique selectable link comprises generating values indicating one or more of:

a unique identifier of the email;

an identifier of a recipient address;

an identifier of an analysis server; or

an identifier of a reporting action.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a plurality of links including one or more of:

a first link for reporting a spam email;

a second link for reporting a phishing email;

a third link for reporting a suspicious attachment; or

a fourth link for adding a sender of the email to a blocklist.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first link, the method further comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a selection of the first link in the email warning tag;

generating a webpage in response to the selection of the first link, wherein the webpage comprises one or more of:

a second link for reporting a spam email;

a third link for reporting a phishing email;

a fourth link for reporting a suspicious attachment;

a fifth link for adding a sender of the email to a safelist;

a sixth link for adding a sender of the email to a blocklist; or

a text box for providing more information about why a user reported the email; and

sending the webpage to the user device.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first link, the method further comprising:

receiving a user selection of the first link;

generating labeled training data based on the user selection of the first link; and

re-training a machine learning model based on the labeled training data.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first link, wherein the first link comprises an encrypted email identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a selection of the first link;

decrypting the encrypted email identifier in the first link;

requesting, from the email server, using the email identifier, the email;

receiving the email;

analyzing the email; and

performing one or more enforcement actions based on the analyzing.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

identifying, based on information in the first link, a particular organization associated with the email; and

retrieving an email policy associated with the organization,

wherein the analyzing of the email is based on the email policy associated with the organization.

12 . A computing platform comprising a network interface, one or more processors, and memory storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

intercepting, by the network interface, an email in transit to an email server;

analyzing, by the one or more processors, the email, wherein the analyzing the email comprises:

using a machine learning model to generate a suspicious email score based on features derived from the email,

wherein the machine learning model is trained using a labeled training data set correlating features of training emails with labels indicating a suspicious email score of each training email;

based on the analyzing:

generating, by the one or more processors, at least one unique selectable link, wherein the at least one unique selectable link is selectable by a user for reporting suspicious content associated with the email; and

generating, by the one or more processors, an email warning tag comprising text information and the at least one unique selectable link;

injecting, by the one or more processors, the email warning tag into the email, wherein injecting the email warning tag into the email produces a modified email comprising content from the email and the email warning tag; and

sending, via the network interface, the modified email comprising the content from the email and the email warning tag to the email server.

13 . The computing platform of claim 12 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first unique link, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a user device associated with an email address specified by the email, a selection of the first unique link in the email warning tag;

based on the selection, flagging the email as a malicious email; and

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing the email from an inbox associated with the email address.

14 . The computing platform of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing other emails sent by a sender of the email from the inbox.

15 . The computing platform of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing other emails sent by a sender of the email from inboxes associated with other email addresses.

16 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing platform, cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

intercepting an email in transit to an email server;

analyzing, by the one or more processors, the email, wherein the analyzing the email comprises:

using a machine learning model to generate a suspicious email score based on features derived from the email,

wherein the machine learning model is trained using a labeled training data set correlating features of training emails with labels indicating a suspicious email score of each training email;

based on the analyzing:

generating, by the one or more processors, at least one unique selectable link, wherein the at least one unique selectable link is selectable by a user for reporting suspicious content associated with the email; and

generating, by the one or more processors, an email warning tag comprising text information and the at least one unique selectable link for reporting the suspicious content associated with the email;

injecting, by the one or more processors, the email warning tag into the email, wherein injecting the email warning tag into the email produces a modified email comprising content from the email and the email warning tag; and

sending the modified email comprising the content from the email and the email warning tag to the email server.

17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link comprises a first unique link, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a user device associated with an email address specified by the email, a selection of the first unique link in the email warning tag;

based on the selection, flagging the email as a malicious email; and

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing the email from an inbox associated with the email address.

18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computing platform to perform steps comprising:

based on flagging the email as a malicious email, removing other emails sent by a sender of the email from the inbox.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one unique selectable link includes identification of a server to analyze the email for suspicious content.

Assignments (3)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AGREEMENT SUPPLEMENT Recorded Dec 9, 2025
From: PROOFPOINT, INC.
To: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 073910/0027 →
SECOND LIEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 8, 2025
From: PROOFPOINT, INC.
To: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 073889/0677 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2021
From: HIMLER, ALAN JAMES; WUSLICH, MARK; HIREMATH, SHARANKUMAR
To: PROOFPOINT, INC.
Reel/Frame 057548/0144 →