Patent ID: 8171085
Filing Date: 2012-05-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A machine readable non-transitory storage medium providing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing device cause the data processing device to perform a method for processing an electronic message, the method comprising: storing, at the data processing device as a client for a recipient address associated with a user using a display device of the data processing device to send and display emails having the recipient address, authentication data including a plurality of domain names, each of which corresponding to a portion of a full email address, wherein the authentication data is locally accessible within the data processing device insulated from domain name system security attacks; receiving, at the data processing device, a first email addressed to the recipient address; determining, at the data processing device, whether to perform a verification operation cryptographically based on public/private key cryptology on the first email to determine if the first email is authentic using the authentication data, wherein the verification operation on the first email is not performed if a sender address specified by the first email is outside of domains specified by the plurality of domain names stored at the data processing device; presenting, on the display device of the data processing device, the first email if the verification operation is determined not to be performed on the first email; performing the verification operation to determine if the first email is authentic if the sender address is within a domain specified by the plurality of domain names, the verification operation to determine whether the first email includes cryptographic data for the domain at the data processing device, the verification operation to determine, if the first email includes the cryptographic data, whether the first email at the data processing device is authentically from an entity which controls the domain specified by the plurality of domain names; determining, at the data processing device, whether to enable an indication of nonauthenticity for the first email, wherein the indication of nonauthenticity is disabled if the sender address is within a list of known addresses and wherein each of the list of known addresses is within the domains specified by the plurality of domain names; presenting, on the display device of the data processing device, the indication of nonauthenticity with the first email if the indication is enabled; and in response to receiving a user instruction subsequent to the presentation of the indication, updating, at the data processing device, the list of known addresses with the sender address of the first email, wherein the indication of nonauthenticity is disabled for a second email from the sender address addressed to the recipient address.