Patent ID: 11966469
Assignee: PROOFPOINT, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. A method, comprising:
at a computing platform comprising at least one processor, a communication interface, and memory:
receiving, by the at least one processor, a character-limited message sent to a user device;
scanning, by the at least one processor, the character-limited message to evaluate the character-limited message for suspicious content;
detecting, by the at least one processor and based on the scanning, that the character-limited message sent to the user device comprises suspicious content;
responsive to detecting that the character-limited message sent to the user device comprises the suspicious content, generating, by the at least one processor, a modified character-limited message by selecting and inserting one or more unprintable characters into the character-limited message, wherein:
selecting and inserting the one or more unprintable characters into the character-limited message includes detecting a length of the character-limited message and inserting the one or more unprintable characters based on a number of available unused characters in the character-limited message,
the one or more unprintable characters are configured to track the character-limited message comprising the suspicious content and identify a confidence level, determined upon scanning the character-limited message, indicative of a confidence that the suspicious content is suspicious, and
the one or more unprintable characters include different unprintable characters indicating different confidence levels;

causing, by the at least one processor, transmission of the modified character-limited message to the user device;
receiving, by the at least one processor, from the user device, a spam report confirming that the character-limited message comprises the suspicious content that is suspicious, wherein the spam report includes the modified character-limited message;
identifying, by the at least one processor, a presence of the one or more unprintable characters included in the modified character-limited message; and
adjusting, by the at least one processor, one or more filters based on identifying the presence of the one or more unprintable characters included in the modified character-limited message.