Granted Patent B2

US 12,647,380 · App. 16/428,044 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventor: Roman Kagarlitsky (Palo Alto, CA)

Assignee: XATTIC, INC.

H04L51/066G06F40/134G06V30/224H04L51/08H04L51/18H04L63/0281H04L63/10H04L63/1466G06V30/10

Abstract

Claims (37)

1 . A method, comprising:

intercepting, at a gateway, a message directed to a message client;

transforming, by the gateway, the message into an image format by taking at least four images associated with at least four types of images of the message in a pixel format, wherein taking the at least four types of images further includes capturing a first image associated with a first image type for a body of the message, capturing a second image associated with a second image type for any attachments associated with the message wherein capturing the second image associated with the second image type for any attachments includes opening each attachment using an application that is known to display an attachment type for that attachment and imaging or printing each opened attachment to the image format, capturing a third image associated with a third image type for web pages associated with any embedded links within the message, and capturing a fourth image associated with a fourth image type for metadata of the message, wherein the metadata comprises a header field, other fields associated with the message, an email server identifier, a date and time the message was sent, a recipient identifier for a recipient of the message, and a sender identifier for a sender of the message;

notifying, by the gateway, the recipient of the message that the message was received;

providing, by the gateway, the at least four images associated with the message in the image format for viewing on the message client while preventing the message client from accessing the message in an original format associated with the message; and

integrating the intercepting, the transforming, the notifying, and the providing within an existing email system as an enhancement to email security that provides review of all email messages directed to the message client without requiring updated virus and spyware pattern definitions and without relying on out-of-date digital certificate and digital signature validation processing for the email messages, wherein the integrating further includes processing the method as a milter process initiated on the gateway upon receipt of the message directed to the recipient;

wherein the message is incapable of being executed or processed by the message client or a device executing and accessing the message client.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming further includes producing print data for printing the at least four images associated with the message wherein the print data is in the image format.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming further includes capturing one or more screenshots of the message while displayed on the gateway to produce the at least four images in the image format.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming further includes parsing the body of the message to identify the embedded links within the message.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein parsing further includes traversing each link and imaging a source web page associated with that link and adding an imaged version of the source web page as a particular attachment to the message in the image format for each of the at least one second images associated with the second image type.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming further includes stripping the metadata associated with the message from the body of the message.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein stripping further includes converting text of the metadata into the pixel format of the fourth image and converting text of the body of the message into the pixel format of the fourth image.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming further includes scanning the message for the attachments, opening each attachment, transforming each content of each attachment into the at least one second image of the second image type.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein notifying further includes constructing a second message and sending the second message to the recipient as a notification that the message in the image format is available for viewing.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing further includes making the metadata associated with the message, the body or payload associated with the message, and the attachments provided with the message available to the message client as images viewable from the message client via the first image, the at least one second image, and the fourth image.

11 . A method, comprising:

preventing, by a proxy device, a message that is sent from a sender in an original format from being delivered to a recipient on a message client device;

converting, by the proxy device, the message from the original format into an image format by taking at least four images associated with at least four image types for the message in a pixel format, wherein taking the image further include capturing a first image type for a first image associated with a body of the message, taking a second image type for at least one second image associated with any attachments of the message wherein taking the second image type for at least one second image associated with any attachments includes opening each attachment using an application that is known to display an attachment type for that attachment and imaging or printing each opened attachment to the image format, taking a third image type for at least one third image associated with any embedded links of the message, and taking a fourth image type for a fourth image associated with metadata of the message, wherein the metadata comprises a header field, other fields associated with the message, an email server identifier, a date and time the message was sent, a recipient identifier for the recipient of the message, and a sender identifier for the sender of the message;

delivering, by the proxy device, the at least four images associated with the message in the image format to the message client device for access by the recipient; and

integrating the preventing, the converting, and the delivering within an existing email system as an enhancement to email security that provides review of all email messages directed to the message client device without requiring updated virus and spyware pattern definitions and without relying on out-of-date digital certificate and digital signature validation processing for the email messages, wherein the integrating further includes acting as a forward proxy or a transparent proxy to a messaging server associated with the message client device;

wherein an original message, associated with the message sent from the sender, is completely rendered innocuous and the message is incapable of infecting, spying, or phishing the device or the message client device.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein preventing further includes integrating the method into a messaging server associated with the message client device.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein converting further includes converting the body or a payload of the message into the first image associated with the first image type and the metadata of the message into the fourth image associated with the fourth image type.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein converting further includes converting sites associated with the embedded links of the body or the payload into the third image associated with the third image type.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein converting further includes converting the attachments that were attached to the message into the second image associated with the second image type.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein delivering further includes attaching the first image, the at least one second image, the at least one third image, and the fourth image into a new message and sending the new message to the recipient at the message client device.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein attaching further includes providing second metadata for the new message that includes portions of the metadata associated with the message.

18 . A system, comprising:

a proxy device; and

a message gateway;

wherein the message gateway is configured to:

invoke the proxy device when a message is received from a sender and is directed to a recipient of a message client;

wherein the proxy device is configured to: convert the message from an original message format to an image format by taking at least four images of the message in a pixel format and provide the at least four images in the image format back to the message gateway, wherein taking the image further includes capturing a first image type for a first image associated with a body of the message, capturing a second image type for at least one second image associated with any attachments of the message wherein capturing the second image type for at least one second image associated with any attachments includes opening each attachment using an application that is known to display an attachment type for that attachment and imaging or printing each opened attachment to the image format, capturing a third image type for at least one third image associated websites for any embedded links within the message, and capturing a fourth image type for a fourth image associated with metadata of the message, wherein the metadata comprises a header field, other fields associated with the message, an email server identifier, a date and time the message was sent, a recipient identifier for the recipient of the message, and a sender identifier for the sender of the message;

wherein the message gateway is further configured to: send the at least four images associated with the message in the image format to the recipient on the message client;

wherein message gateway and the proxy device are integrated within an existing email system as an enhancement to email security that provides review of all email messages directed to the message client device without requiring updated virus and spyware pattern definitions and without relying on out-of-date digital certificate and digital signature validation processing for the email messages, wherein the proxy device is further configured to: convert any of the attachments into the at least one second image of the second image type and convert any web pages referenced as any of the embedded links at the websites into the at least one third image of the third image type and provide the first image in a new message in the image format with attachment images to the message gateway, wherein the attachment images comprise the at least one second image and the at least one third image to the message gateway;

wherein the message is incapable of being executed or processed by the message client or a device executing and accessing the message client.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (127)