Patent ID: 9049235
Filing Date: 2015-06-02
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for applying policies to an email message, comprising: receiving, by an inbound policy module in a protected network, message metadata of an email message en route to an intended recipient associated with the protected network, wherein the message metadata is to be received without the email message; determining, based on the message metadata, whether receiving the email message in the protected network is prohibited by at least one metadata policy of one or more metadata policies; sending a response from the protected network to block the email message from being forwarded to the protected network if receiving the email message in the protected network is determined to be prohibited by the at least one metadata policy; sending a request from the protected network for scan results data for the email message if receiving the email message in the protected network is determined not to be prohibited by the one or more metadata policies; receiving, by the inbound policy module in the protected network, the scan results data; determining, based on the scan results data, whether receiving the email message in the protected network is prohibited by at least one scan policy of one or more scan policies; sending a particular response from the protected network to block the email message from being forwarded to the protected network if receiving the email message in the protected network is prohibited by the at least one scan policy; sending a request from the protected network for the email message if receiving the email message in the protected network is not prohibited by the one or more scan policies; receiving, by the inbound policy module in the protected network, the email message in response to the request for the email message; and forwarding the email message to a destination network address associated with a recipient email address, wherein the destination network address is in the protected network.