IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,110,738
Granted Patent B1
US 10,110,738 · App. 15/242,308 · Granted Oct 23, 2018

Systems and methods for detecting illegitimate voice calls

Inventors: Vipul Sawant (Pune, IN); Anudeep Kumar (Uttar Pradesh, IN); Debanjan Bhattacharyya (Pune, IN)
Assignee: Symantec Corporation
H04M3/436G06N3/088H04M3/42153H04M3/42221H04M2201/60
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,110,738
App. No.
15/242,308
Granted
Oct 23, 2018
Kind
B1
Abstract

The disclosed computer-implemented method for detecting illegitimate voice calls may include (1) identifying an incoming voice call, (2) processing the incoming voice call in real time by (a) segmenting the incoming voice call into progressively produced call segments and, (b) for each new segment as the progressively produced call segments are produced, (A) extracting a set of features from the new segment and (B) feeding, as input into a neural network, the set of features and an output from the neural network generated based on a preceding segment of the incoming voice call, thereby generating a new output representing the current likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate, (3) determining that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold, and (4) performing a security action during the incoming voice call. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims (63)

1. A computer-implemented method for detecting illegitimate voice calls, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

identifying, at a computing system that receives voice calls, an incoming voice call;

processing the incoming voice call at the computing system in real time by:

segmenting the incoming voice call into progressively produced call segments; and

for each new segment as the progressively produced call segments are produced:

extracting a set of features from the new segment; and

feeding, as input into a neural network, the set of features from the new segment and an output from the neural network generated based on a preceding segment of the incoming voice call, thereby generating a new output representing a current assessment of a likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate;

determining that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold based on output from the neural network; and

performing a security action on the incoming voice call during the incoming voice call upon determining that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the security action comprises at least one of:

alerting a user of the computing system during the incoming voice call about the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate;

muting the incoming voice call; and

terminating the incoming voice call.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the neural network was trained before the incoming voice call using a plurality of sample voice calls and a plurality of legitimacy classifications applied to the plurality of sample voice calls.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the set of features describes content of the incoming voice call.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:

extracting the set of features from the new segment comprises converting speech within the new segment to textual features; and

feeding, as input into the neural network, the set of features comprises providing the textual features as input into the neural network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the set of features comprises at least one of:

at least characteristic of background noise observed during the new segment; and

at least one non-textual speech characteristic observed during the new segment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the computing system comprises a mobile phone.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from a user of the computing system who received the incoming voice call, a legitimacy classification of the incoming voice call; and

further training the neural network based on the legitimacy classification.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the neural network comprises a recurrent neural network.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein processing the incoming voice call at the computing system is in response to determining that a source of the incoming voice call comprises a non-trusted source.

11. A system for detecting illegitimate voice calls, the system comprising:

an identification module, stored in memory, that identifies, at a computing system that receives voice calls, an incoming voice call;

a processing module, stored in memory, that processes the incoming voice call at the computing system in real time by:

segmenting the incoming voice call into progressively produced call segments; and

for each new segment as the progressively produced call segments are produced:

extracting a set of features from the new segment; and

feeding, as input into a neural network, the set of features from the new segment and an output from the neural network generated based on a preceding segment of the incoming voice call, thereby generating a new output representing a current assessment of a likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate;

a determination module, stored in memory, that determines that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold based on output from the neural network;

a performing module, stored in memory, that performs a security action on the incoming voice call during the incoming voice call upon determining that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold; and

at least one physical processor configured to execute the identification module, the processing module, the determination module, and the performing module.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the security action comprises at least one of:

alerting a user of the computing system during the incoming voice call about the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate;

muting the incoming voice call; and

terminating the incoming voice call.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the neural network was trained before the incoming voice call using a plurality of sample voice calls and a plurality of legitimacy classifications applied to the plurality of sample voice calls.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the set of features describes content of the incoming voice call.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein:

the processing module extracts the set of features from the new segment by converting speech within the new segment to textual features; and

the processing module feeds, as input into the neural network, the set of features by providing the textual features as input into the neural network.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the set of features comprises at least one of:

at least characteristic of background noise observed during the new segment; and

at least one non-textual speech characteristic observed during the new segment.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the computing system comprises a mobile phone.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the performing module further:

receives, from a user of the computing system who received the incoming voice call, a legitimacy classification of the incoming voice call; and

trains the neural network further based on the legitimacy classification.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the neural network comprises a recurrent neural network.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

identify, at a computing system that receives voice calls, an incoming voice call;

process the incoming voice call at the computing system in real time by:

segmenting the incoming voice call into progressively produced call segments; and

for each new segment as the progressively produced call segments are produced:

extracting a set of features from the new segment; and

feeding, as input into a neural network, the set of features from the new segment and an output from the neural network generated based on a preceding segment of the incoming voice call, thereby generating a new output representing a current assessment of a likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate;

determine that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold based on output from the neural network; and

perform a security action on the incoming voice call during the incoming voice call upon determining that the likelihood that the incoming voice call is illegitimate is above a predetermined threshold.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 21, 2019
From: SYMANTEC CORPORATION
To: CA, INC.
Reel/Frame 051144/0918 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 19, 2016
From: SAWANT, VIPUL; KUMAR, ANUDEEP; BHATTACHARYYA, DEBANJAN
To: SYMANTEC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 039490/0972 →
Cited By (19)
US 12,206,783 US 12,236,431 US 12,236,438 US 12,238,218 US 12,248,549 US 12,254,072 US 12,273,341 US 12,282,533 US 12,299,101 US 12,301,698 US 12,335,400 US 12,348,671 US 12,411,924 US 12,430,099 US 12,432,294 US 12,443,392 US 12,457,111 US 12,598,251 US 12,731,146