Methods and systems for exposing messaging reputation to an end user

Systems and methods for providing message reputation to an end user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to electronic messaging classification, and more particularly to alerting a user to a messaging classification.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

This document relates generally to systems and methods for processing communications and more particularly to systems and methods for filtering communications.

In the anti-spam industry, spammers use various creative means for evading detection by spam filters. Available anti-spam systems include fail-open systems in which all incoming messages are filtered for spam. However, these systems can be inefficient and inaccurate in Properly classifying messages at legitimate or spam.

In accordance with the teachings disclosed herein, methods and systems are provided for operation upon one or more data processors that classify communications from messaging entities. For example, a method and system can include receiving a communication that was sent from a messaging entity. A plurality of message classification techniques is used to classify the communication. A message classification technique is associated with a confidence value which is used in generating a message classification output from the message classification technique. The message classification outputs are combined in order to generate a message profile score. The message profile score is used in deciding what action is to be taken with respect to the communication associated with the messaging entity.

As another example, a system and method can utilize a plurality of message classification techniques, wherein the plurality of message classification techniques are configured to classify a communication received from a messaging entity. Message profiling logic can be configured to combine the message classification outputs in order to generate a message profile score. The message profile score is used in deciding what action is to be taken with respect to the communication associated with the messaging entity.

As another example, a system and method can be used for tuning message classification parameters for use by one or more message classification techniques. A plurality of input data is received (such as through input logic or processing instructions) that is or is representative of a plurality of communications. A tuner program is used to tune the message classification parameters associated with the message classification techniques. A communication is received from a messaging entity. The tuned message classification parameters are used by the plurality of message classification techniques to classify the communication. Message classification outputs from the plurality of message classification techniques are combined in order to generate a message profile score. The message profile score is used in deciding what action is to be taken with respect to the communication associated with the messaging entity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1depicts at30a system for handling transmissions received over a network40. The transmissions can be many different types of communications, such as electronic mail (e-mail) messages sent from one or more messaging entities50. The system30uses a filtering system60to help process the communications from the messaging entities50. The filtering system60examines characteristics associated with the communications from the messaging entities50, and based upon the examination, an action is taken with respect to the communications. For example, a communication may be determined to be legitimate and thus the communication should not be filtered by the filtering system60and instead provided to a receiving system70for delivery to the intended recipient.

To increase the accuracy of classifying messages properly (e.g., as spam or legitimate), a filtering system60can be configured with a message profiler program100as shown inFIG. 2. A message profiler100uses multiple message classification techniques or filters110to classify messages as shown inFIG. 2. Example message classification techniques or filters110that a message profiler100can use include:Reverse DNS (RDNS)—a classification technique that performs a reverse domain name service (DNS) lookup, based on the message sender's IP address, to check (1) whether a domain exists in the DNS system for that IP address, and (2) if such a domain exists, whether the domain matches the domain from which the sender claims to be sending the message.Real-time Black-hole Lists (RBLs)—a classification technique that performs one or more real-time black-hole list (RBL) queries, based on the message sender's IP address, to check whether the IP address has been identified by any RBLs as an IP address that is likely to send unwanted messages.Reputation Server—a classification technique that performs one or more reputation server queries, based on the message sender's IP address and/or their domain name and other message sender characteristics, to receive a score that describes the sender's reputation.Signature/fingerprinting-based Analysis (e.g., Statistical Lookup Service (SLS))—a classification technique that computes a set of message hashes and queries a centralized statistical lookup service (SLS) to determine how frequently the computed message hashes have been seen in recent mail flow.Message Header Analysis Classification Technique—as examples, this technique can include System Defined Header analysis (SDHA), User Defined Header Analysis (UDHA), etc.System Defined Header Analysis (SDHA)—a set of classification techniques that examine a message and identify whether the message's headers exhibit certain system-defined characteristics that tend to identify likely unwanted message senders.User Defined Header Analysis (UDHA)—a set of classification techniques that examine a message and identify whether the message's headers exhibit certain user-defined characteristics that tend to identify likely unwanted message senders.Sender Authentication—a set of classification techniques that perform lookups to determine (1) whether the sender's claimed domain has published a record of mail servers that are authorized to send mail for that domain, and (2) if such a record has been published, whether the record authorizes the sender's IP address to send mail on behalf of the claimed domain. Examples of commonly used Sender Authentication techniques include Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Sender ID.Bayesian Filtering—a statistical classification technique that computes an estimate of the joint conditional probability that a message falls into a specific category, based on the set of textual tokens (words) in the message.Content Filtering—a classification technique that searches the contents of a message for words that have been associated with certain message categories.Clustering Classification—a classification technique that based upon measuring similarity among features, communications are clustered into such groups as desired, undesired (e.g., spam), etc. The clustering is performed such that intra-group similarities are high and inter-group similarities are low.

The list is not intended to be exhaustive, and can be adapted to include other techniques as they are discovered. Some of the descriptions in the list constitute a single technique, while others constitute a combined set of many similar or closely related techniques. In cases where multiple techniques are described collectively, the message profiler100permits each technique to have its own confidence value.

A message profiler100classifies messages using a threshold-based technique. Each of the classification techniques110used by the message profiler100has an associated confidence value120. When a message arrives for profiling, the message profiler100iterates through the classification techniques and allows each technique to attempt to classify the message. The result of each classification is a decimal value in the range [0,1]. After iterating through each classification technique, the message profiler100computes a score for the message using the following formula:

Score=∑i=1N⁢SVi⁢Ci
where SViis the confidence value associated with classification technique i, and Ciis the classification value in [0,1] produced by classification technique i.

In using classification techniques with non-linear scoring functions, the following formula can be used:

Score=∑i=1N⁢SV1⁢i⨯Ci+SV2⁢i⨯Ci2
where SV1iand SV2iare the confidence value associated with classification technique i, and Ciis the classification value in [0,1] produced by classification technique i.

If the message score exceeds some specified threshold T as determined at120, then the message is declared to belong to the first defined category. If the message score is below the threshold, it is declared to belong to the opposite category. The system can then take an appropriate action based on the threshold reached by the message score, such as quarantining the message, dropping the message (i.e., deleting the message without delivery as shown at130), rewriting the subject of the message to contain some specific string (e.g., “SUSPECTED SPAM”), passing on a message to the encryption engine for secure delivery, etc. The system can also allow for specifying multiple thresholds and applying a different action or actions at each threshold, which would signify the increased confidence of the message profiler100in the result of the classification.

In another example, in accordance with systems and methods disclosed herein, the message reputation or classification may be make available to the user. The user can view this information, and critically evaluate the message in view of the reputation or classification. For example, a message including an indication alerting the recipient that the message is potential spam, can enable the user to avoid the message, or to open the message with a critical eye towards verifying that the message reputation was scored and classified correctly. Messages that are not properly scored may be returned to a message reputation system or process for use in reevaluating the criteria and/or weightings applied to incoming messages as described above. Exposing the message reputation or classification to the recipient could facilitate user input to message reputation scoring algorithms.

In one example, a header associated with a message can be added to or amended by a message profiler100such that it includes a message reputation or classification. The header would indicate to the recipient a reputation or classification associated with the message. As noted above, the reputation or classification could be noted by a message in the subject line of the message reading, for example, “SUSPECTED SPAM.” It should be recognized, however, that there are many ways to communicate this information to a message recipient, or recipients. For example, a notification in the message header may be used by a messaging client or messaging server as a trigger to mark the message in some way. Other examples include color coding a message by changing the color of the message font to identify its reputation or classification to the user. Similarly, an inbox message list could be color coded to identify reputation of the messages. By way of this example, a message could be colored, for example, red to indicate that the message has a poor reputation score or classification. In the same way, a message could be colored, for example, yellow to indicate that the message reputation score or classification is borderline, or green to indicate that the message reputation score or classification is good. In yet further examples, a reputation score could be represented by a spectrum of colors, with intensity of a reputation score being indicated by an intense color coding.

The effectiveness and accuracy of a message profiler100is dependent on several factors, such as on the set of SVior SV1i/SV2iconfidence value120associated with the classification techniques110. A tunable message classification configuration can be used to generate an optimized set of values along with an associated set of thresholds and actions and that can be generated periodically to keep a message profiler100updated with the latest protection against the frequent changes in the score distributions of classification techniques operating on the constantly changing message flow patterns. As such, a message profiler configuration includes a vector
SV1, SV2, . . . , SVN)

(which represents the confidence values of all N classification techniques).

As shown inFIG. 3, a message classification tuner program200can be configured to tune a message profiler100by performing a probabilistic search through the vector space of all possible vectors and identifying a vector that maximizes the filtering accuracy of the profiler for a pre-selected threshold. The tuner200can use different approaches to do this, such as by using a heuristic approach210.

FIG. 4illustrates the tuner using a heuristic approach known as a genetic algorithm250in order to perform a vector space search. The concepts underpinning a genetic algorithm come from the theory of evolution, in which genotypes (expressed via chromosomes) compete with each other via their phenotypes (expressed as biological organisms). Over time, biological evolution produces highly adapted and complex organisms that are capable of surviving in the environment for which they evolved. Similarly, a genetic algorithm searches through a vector space consisting of candidate solutions to a problem, where each candidate solution is expressed as a vector. Over many simulated generations of candidate solutions, the genetic algorithm gradually evolves towards increasingly well-adapted solutions to the problem.

The genetic algorithm's ability to evolve good solutions to a problem over time depends upon the existence of an accurate mechanism for evaluating the relative fitness level of a candidate solution compared to other candidate solutions. Thus, the genetic algorithm250is designed with a fitness function260that accurately models the fitness of candidate solutions in the actual problem domain.

Below is a fitness function260that could be used for optimization of a message profiler100:

The definitions of terms in the function are as follows:NCAT1=number of message vectors from the overall data set that belong to the first categoryNCAT2=number of message vectors from the overall data set that belong to the second categoryC=constant multiplier for misclassified messages from the second categorySCAT1—MISTAKE=message profiler score of message vector i from the first message category that has been misclassified to belong in the other categorySCAT2—MISTAKE=message profiler score of message vector i from the second message category that has been misclassified to belong in the other categoryT=message profiler numeric threshold above which a message is considered to belong to the first category

The function expresses the cost associated with the mistakes that a configuration made in attempting to correctly classify message vectors in the set of pre-classified data. Accordingly, a lower fitness value is considered better for the genetic algorithm's purposes. The first term in the function expresses the cost associated with messages from the first category that have been misclassified to belong in the second (e.g., unwanted messages that have been classified as legitimate, also known as false negatives), and the second term expresses the cost associated with messages from the second category that have been misclassified to belong in the first (e.g., legitimate messages that have been classified as unwanted, also known as false positives). The summations represent the total number of points by which a configuration was wrong when attempting to classify message vectors. Intuitively, each term is essentially an expression of both the average frequency of classification errors and the average magnitude of classification errors. Note that the second term is to be multiplied by a constant, C. This constant (which can be set to a value of 20) represents the relative cost of a misclassification of a message from one category in relation to misclassification of a message from the opposing category. By setting C to 20. this indicates that classification mistakes on messages from the second category are 20 times more costly than mistakes from the second category. For example, if a message profiler100is used for classification of wanted and unwanted mail, the first category would represent the unwanted mail (e.g., spam) and the second category would represent legitimate messages. Then the above function would deem misclassifications of legitimate messages (false positives) to be 20 times as costly as misclassification of unwanted messages (false negatives). This reflects the real-world view in the anti-spam community that false positives carry much higher risk than false negatives. If a message profiler100is used for policy compliance-related classification, a false positive is a message that contains sensitive information but is not labeled as such by the message profiler100and is, therefore, allowed to evade the policies that an organization may have chosen to apply to that particular category.

FIG. 5depicts an operational scenario wherein a message profiler can be used. With reference toFIG. 5, the operational scenario includes receiving at step310a communication that was sent over a network from a messaging entity. A plurality of message classification techniques is then used at310to classify the communication. Each message classification technique is associated with a confidence value which is used in generating a message classification output from the message classification technique. The output of each classification can be numeric values, textual values, or categorical values. The message classification outputs are combined at step320in order to generate a message profile score at step330. The message profile score is used at step340to decide what action is to be taken with respect to the communication associated with the message entity.

It should be understood that similar to the other processing flows described herein, the processing and the order of the processing may be altered, modified and/or augmented and still achieve the desired outcome. For example, a message profiler may be configured for an operational scenario that recognizes that there is a single technique is not capable of adequately classifying a message into two distinct categories, such as distinguishing between wanted (legitimate) and unwanted (spam, phishing, viruses, etc) message communications or determining whether a message complies with a specific organization policy, law, or regulation. In this operational scenario, such a configured message profiler can be designed to:1. Provide a framework for combining the results of many message classification techniques into an aggregate classification (such as “unwanted” or “legitimate”, “HIPPA compliant”, “GLBA violation”, “HR policy violation”, etc), without specifying a priori which classification technique(s) will be used.2. Decouple each classification technique's importance (expressed via its contribution towards the aggregate classification) from its classification logic, so that a technique's level of importance may be adjusted to reflect changes in its accuracy over time.3. Provide a mechanism through which to describe the relative importance of each classification technique within the framework and the correlation of their individual accuracy, so that the framework can be adjusted to use this information to achieve very accurate rates in aggregate classification.4. Provide a mechanism through which to discover the relative importance of each classification technique within the framework, so that the framework can be “tuned” for maximum classification accuracy in a given environment.
Still further, a message profiler may be configured to operate in other operational scenarios. For example,FIG. 6depicts a message profiler that has been adapted to operate with adaptive message blocking and whitelisting. With reference toFIG. 6, in addition to classification of individual messages, the aggregated results of a message profiler program100can also be used for classifying at420senders of messages based on the distributions of message profiler scores that their messages are receiving. If the average score of messages received from a particular sender (e.g., IP) during a specified timeframe (e.g., hour, day, week) exceeds a specified threshold TUand the score distribution has a standard deviation smaller than STU, that sender can be classified ‘un-reputable’ (which information is stored in data store440) process400can then use the data from data store440to determine that all messages and connections originating from such a sender can be dropped at410without processing for the next X hours. Correspondingly, if the average score is below threshold TLwith a standard deviation smaller than STL, the sender can be considered legitimate (which information is stored in data store430) and messages from that sender can be allowed by process400to bypass certain filtering techniques (e.g., the filtering of message profiler100) that can cause significant processing, network, or storage overhead for the filtering system60.

A message profiler may also be used in connection with adaptive training of endo and exo-filtering systems. Using the systems and methods of sender classifier described herein, a message profiler can be used for training of the various filtering techniques that are used within the profile, as well as others that lie completely outside of it. Such techniques may include Bayesian, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and other statistical content filtering techniques, as well as signature-based techniques such as Statistical Lookup Service (SLS) and message clustering-type techniques. The training strategies for such techniques may use sets of classified legitimate and unwanted messages, which can be provided by the message profiler based on sender reputations, assigned form the aggregate scores of messages from such senders. Messages from senders classified as un-reputable can be provided to the filtering system trainer as unwanted, and the wanted messages will be taken from stream sent by the legitimate senders.

As described above, a message profiler100may use a reputation-based approach as on classification technique.FIG. 7depicts at500a reputation system that can be used by a filtering system60in handling transmissions received over a network40from messaging entities50. More specifically, the filtering system60uses the reputation system500to help determine (at least in part) what filtering action (if any) should be taken upon the messaging entities' communications. For example, the communication may be determined to be from a reputable source and thus the communication should not be filtered.

The filtering system60identifies at550the sender of a received communication and provides that identification information to the reputation system500. The reputation system500evaluates the reputation of the queried sender's identity by calculating probabilities that a messaging entity exhibits certain characteristics. An overall reputation score is determined based upon the calculated probabilities and is provided to the filtering system60. A reputation score can be numeric, textual, or categorical in value.

The filtering system60determines at552what action should be taken for the sender's communication. The filtering system60could use the reputation score from the reputation system500as a message classification filter which is to be multiplied by its respectively tuned confidence value and then aggregated with other message classification filter results.

Reputation systems may be configured in many different ways in order to assist a filtering system. For example,FIG. 8depicts the reputation system500that has been configured to calculate reputation scores. The system's configuration600can be established by identifying a set of binary, testable criteria602which appear to be strong discriminators between good and bad senders. P (NR|Ci) can be defined as the probability that a sender is non-reputable, given that it conforms to quality/criterion Ci, and P (R|Ci) can be defined as the probability that a sender is reputable, given that it conforms to quality/criterion Ci.

For each quality criterion Ci, periodic (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) sampling exercises can be performed to recalculate P (NR|Ci). A sampling exercise may include selecting a random sample set S of N senders for which quality/criterion Ciis known to be true. The senders in the sample are then sorted into one of the following sets; reputable (R), non-reputable (NR) or unknown (U). NRis the number of senders in the sample that are reputable senders, NNRis the number of senders that are non-reputable senders, etc. Then P (NR|Ci) and P (R|Ci) are estimated using the formulas:

P⁡(R⁢❘⁢Ci)=NRNP⁡(NR⁢❘⁢Ci)=NNRN
For this purpose, N=30 was determined to be a large enough sample size to achieve an accurate estimate of (NR|Ci) and P (R|Ci) for each quality/criterion Ci.

After calculating (NR|Ci) and P (R|Ci) for all criteria, the computed probabilities are used to calculate an aggregate non-reputable probability604, PNR, and aggregate reputable sender probability606, PR, for each sender in the reputation space. These probabilities can be calculated using the formulas:

After calculating PNRand PRfor each sender, a reputation score is calculated for that sender using the following reputation function:
ƒ(PNR, PR)=(c1+c2PNR+c2PR+c3PNR2+c3PR2+c4PNRPR+c5PNR3+c5PR3+c6PNRPR2c6PNR2PR)((PNR−PR)3+c7(PNR−PR))
wherec1=86.50c2=193.45c3=35.19c4=581.09c5=234.81c6=233.18c7=0.51
It should be understood that different functions can act as a reputation score determinator608and can be expressed in many different forms in addition to a functional expression. As an illustration,FIG. 9depicts at700a tabular form for determining reputation scores. The table shows reputation scores produced by the above function, based on values of PNRPRas they each vary between 0.0 and 1.0. For example as shown at710, a reputation score of 53 is obtained for the combination of PNR=0.9 and PR=0.2. This reputation score is a relatively high indicator that the sender should not be considered reputable. A reputation score of 0 is obtained if PNRand PRare the same (e.g., the reputation score is 0 if PNR=0.7 and PR=0.7 as shown at720). A reputation score can have a negative value to indicate that a sender is relatively reputable as determined when PRis greater than PNR. For example, if PNR=0.5 and PR=0.8 as shown at730, then the reputation score is −12.

Many different types of criteria may be used in a reputation system's processing of a sender's communication, such as using non-reputable criteria and reputable criteria to determine reputation scores. Examples of such criteria are disclosed in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/625,507, entitled “CLASSIFICATION OF MESSAGING ENTITIES,” filed on Nov. 5, 2004.

The systems and methods disclosed herein are presented only by way of example and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Other variations of the systems and methods described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art and as such are considered to be within the scope of the invention. For example, a system and method can be configured to handle many different types of communications, such as legitimate messages or unwanted communications or communications violative of a pre-selected policy. As an illustration, an unwanted communication could include a spam or virus communication, and a pre-selected policy could include a corporate communication policy, a messaging policy, a legislation or regulatory policy, or an international communication policy.

As another example of the wide scope and variations of the systems and methods disclosed herein, the systems and methods may be implemented on various types of computer architectures, such as for example on different types of networked environments. As an illustration,FIG. 10depicts a server access architecture within which the disclosed systems and methods may be used (e.g., as shown at30inFIG. 10). The architecture in this example includes a corporation's local network890and a variety of computer systems residing within the local network890. These systems can include application servers820such as Web servers and e-mail servers, user workstations running local clients830such as e-mail readers and Web browsers, and data storage devices810such as databases and network connected disks. These systems communicate with each other via a local communication network such as Ethernet850. Firewall system840resides between the local communication network and Internet860. Connected to the Internet860are a host of external servers870and external clients880.

Local clients830can access application servers820and shared data storage810via the local communication network. Ethernet clients880can access external application servers870via the Internet860. In instances where a local server820or a local client830requires access to an external server870or where an external client880or an external server870requires access to a local server820, electronic communications in the appropriate protocol for a given application server flow through “always open” ports of firewall system840.

A system30as disclosed herein may be located in a hardware device or on one or more servers connected to the local communication network such as Ethernet880and logically interposed between the firewall system840and the local servers820and clients830. Application-related electronic communications attempting to enter or leave the local communications network through the firewall system840are routed to the system30.

In the example ofFIG. 10, system30could be configured to store and process reputation data about many millions of senders as part of a threat management system. This would allow the threat management system to make better informed decisions about allowing or blocking electronic mail (e-mail).

System30could be used to handle many different types of messaging and its variety of protocols that are used for messaging transmission, delivery and processing including, for example, among many others, SMTP and POP3. These protocols refer, respectively, to standards for communicating e-mail messages between servers and for server-client communication related to e-mail messages. These protocols are defined respectively in particular RFC's (Request for Comments) promulgated by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). The SMTP protocol is defined in RFC 821, ad POP3 protocol is defined in RFC 1939.

Since the inception of these standards, various needs have evolved in the field of e-mail leading to the development of further standards including enhancements or additional protocols. For instance, various enhancements have evolved to the SMTP standards leading to the evolution of extended SMTP. Examples of extensions may be seen in (1) RFC 1869 that defines a framework for extending the SMTP service by defining a means whereby a server SMTP can inform a client SMTP as to the service extensions it supports and in (2) RFC 1891 that defines an extension to the SMTP service, which allows an SMTP client to specify (a) that delivery status notifications (DSNs) should be generated under certain conditions, (b) whether such notifications should return the contents of the message, and (c) additional information, to be returned with a DSN, that allows the sender to identify both the recipient(s) for which the DSN was issued, and the transaction in which the original message was sent.

In addition, the IMAP protocol has evolved as an alternative to POP3 that supports more advanced interactions between e-mail servers and clients. This protocol is described in RFC 2060.

Other communication mechanisms are also widely used over networks. These communication mechanisms include, but are not limited to, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and Instant Messaging VoIP is used in IP telephony to provide a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the Internet protocol (IP). Instant Messaging is a type of communication involving a client which hooks up to an instant messaging service that delivers communications (e.g., conversations) in realtime.

As the Internet has become more widely used, it has also created new troubles for users. In particular, the amount of spam received by individual users has increased dramatically in the recent past. Spam, as used in this specification, refers to any communication receipt of which is either unsolicited or not desired by its recipient. A system and method can be configured as disclosed herein to address these types of unsolicited or undesired communications. This can be helpful in that e-mail spamming consumes corporate resources and impacts productivity.

It is further noted that the systems and methods disclosed herein may use data signals conveyed via networks (e.g., local area network, wide area network, internet, etc.), fiber optic medium, carrier waves, wireless networks, etc. for communication with one or more data processing devices. The data signals can carry any or all of the data disclosed herein that is provided to or from a device.

Additionally, the methods and systems described herein may be implemented on many different types of processing devices by program code comprising program instructions that are executable by one or more processors. The software program instructions may include source code, object code, machine code, or any other stored data that is operable to cause a processing system to perform methods described herein.

The systems' and method' data (e.g., associations, mappings, etc.) may be stored and implemented in one or more different types of computer-implemented ways, such as different types of storage devices and programming constructs (e.g., data stores, RAM, ROM, Flash memory, flat files, databases, programming data structures, programming variables, IF-THEN (or similar type) statement constructs, etc.). It is noted that data structures describe formats for use in organizing and storing data in databases, programs, memory, or other computer-readable media for use by a computer program.

The systems and methods may be provided on many different types of computer-readable media including computer storage mechanisms (e.g., CD-ROM, diskette, RAM, flash memory, computer's hard drive, etc.) that contain instructions for use in execution by a processor to perform the methods' operations and implement the systems described herein.

FIG. 11depicts an example of messaging client window representation900displaying a message reputation or classification to a user. The messaging client window representation900can include an inbox pane representation910and a preview pane representation920. The inbox pane representation910can include a number of message representations930. The preview pane representation920can include a message preview representation940. In some examples, the message representations930include a color coding to indicate a reputation or classification associated with the message. In this example, the intensity of the gray scale relates to an intensity of the reputation score or classification. For example, darker grayscale (to black) indicates a higher confidence that the message is spam based upon the message reputation score. Lighter grayscale (to white) indicates a higher confidence that the message is not spam. It should be understood that these scales could be reversed in some examples, or different colors used. The e-mail client, in this example, could be programmed to display these colors to the user. It should also be noted, that similar methods of communicating this information could be applied to other messaging platforms, including, for example, instant messaging where the reputation of a user requesting a chat with can be pushed to a receiving user along with the chat request, or along with the username of the chat requester. In some examples, the messaging client can also be programmed such that when a cursor representation950is hovered over a message, a dialog box representation can display the reputation or classification of a message to highlight the reputation or classification associated with the color code assigned to the message.

It should be understood that there are methods that can be used to push this information to the user without programming the messaging client to do so. For example, a reputation server could include the ability change the color of the font, or alter the display in some other way, in non-plain text messages. As another example,FIG. 12depicts a messaging client window representation1000displaying a message reputation or classification to a user. The messaging client window representation1000includes an inbox pane representation1010and a message preview pane representation1020. The inbox pane representation1010includes a list of messages1030associated with an inbox. In this example, text can be added to the header of the messages. Such text could include, for example, a note in the header stating one of “WEAK SPAM CORRELATION FOUND,” “MYSTERIOUS,” OR “STRONG SPAM CORRELATION FOUND,” or some similar messages conveying similar ideas based upon a reputation score associated with a message. Similarly, the message preview pane1020can include a header representation1040where a note regarding the reputation or classification can be included in a subject line. It should be understood that a message having a reputation indicating a correlation to known non-spam messages could be labeled similarly based on whether these messages showed strong, weak or indifferent correlations to non-spam messages.

It should be understood that the highlighted message in the inbox pane representation is the message that is displayed in the preview pane. Moreover, it is the highlighted message whose reputation is being displayed to the user. Furthermore, it should be recognized that, in some examples, a messaging filter can reside on a local computer with the messaging client. Moreover, various embodiments of the disclosure may use local input and/or local reputation to refine the local and/or global messaging filters. For example, the user can provide feedback to the local and/or global messaging filters to adjust the classification and/or weighting criteria using, for example, a tuner such as discussed in the present disclosure. The local input and/or reputation data can also be integrated with the global data residing at multiple reputation servers dispersed geographically and/or logically. The geographical and/or logical dispersion of reputation servers can help to provide better reputation scoring. It should also be understood that local reputation data can be based on a local blacklist or whitelist as well as local action of the user(s). It should be understood that local reputation can help to refine global reputation server information. It should be further understood that the local reputation may differ from the global reputation, and client configuration can establish which reputation will determine the actions to be taken with respect to a particular message or messaging stream.

Further, the client-side representation can be configured by either (or both) user or provider, using local or global data, to provide the reputation for specific IP addresses or other specified locations. The client-side representation can be customized by the provider or by the user for different users' interests. In addition, the client-side representation can be built to work on any end device or client software including, for example, among other; a PC, a handheld, a telephone, a cellular phone, etc. Moreover, the reputation system applying the client side representation may be used to evaluate any IP address or any other entity whose behavior can be assessed and provided using secure communications with that entity.

As yet another example,FIG. 13depicts a messaging client window representation1100displaying a message reputation or classification to a user. The messaging client window representation1100can include an inbox pane representation1110and an optional message preview pane representation1120. The inbox pane representation1110includes a list of messages1130associated with an inbox. In this example, formatting can be added to non-plain-text messages. The formatting applied to the message can indicate a reputation or classification of a message to a user. Similarly, the message preview pane1120can include a header representation1140where the message subject can be formatted to indicate a reputation or classification associated with a message. It should be understood that message correlating to known non-spam message could be formatted based on whether these messages showed strong, weak or indifferent correlations to non-spam messages.

It should be understood that some e-mail clients do not use a preview pane, or allow the user to disable the preview pane. In examples where the preview pane is not used, the reputation can be displayed via a toolbar (described below with respect toFIG. 15). It should be understood that the toolbar can display the reputation of a highlighted message.

FIG. 14shows a messaging client window representation1400for displaying a message reputation or classification to a user. The messaging client window representation1400includes an inbox pane representation1410and a message preview pane representation1420. The inbox pane representation1410includes a list of message1430associated with an inbox. In this example, a toolbar representation1440is used to display message reputation. Such a toolbar is publicly available from CipherTrust Inc., of Alpharetta, Ga. The toolbar representation1440can include a number of button representations to perform various actions. These actions can include, among others, reporting spam, reporting phishing, and reporting a misclassified message. Moreover, the toolbar representation1440in this example includes a message reputation indication. As should be understood, there are a variety of different ways to alert a user to a message classification with visual graphics/colors/text sound, or combinations thereof. In this example, a graphic “sad” face is used to notify the user that the message reputation is poor. Further, the graphic in this example is supplemented by a text explanation of the reputation (e.g., “Reputation: Weak—Possible Spam”). Further common inclusions on toolbars representations can include an “Options” button representation and a “Help” button representation. It should be noted, however, that the toolbar representation can be configured in myriad different ways in accordance with this disclosure. As such, this disclosure includes configurations that include as little information as the message reputation, or as much information as desired by the user and/or the programmer.

FIG. 15shows a messaging client window representation1500for displaying a message reputation or classification to a user. The messaging client window representation1500includes an inbox pane representation1510and a message preview pane representation1520. The inbox pane representation1510includes a list of message1530associated with an inbox. In this example, a toolbar representation1540is used to display message reputation. Such a toolbar is publicly available from CipherTrust Inc., of Alpharetta, Ga. The toolbar representation can include a number of button representations as described with respect toFIG. 14. It should be noted, however, that the toolbar can be configured in myriad different ways, and that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to only the configuration disclosed. As such, this disclosure includes configurations that include as little information as the message reputation, or as much information as desired by the user and/or the programmer. As an example of the wide scope of this disclosure, the toolbar representation1540includes a local reputation representation. It should be understood that the local reputation of an message may be different than the global reputation of a message. For example, a user could add a known spammer to their whitelist because they are interested in the product advertised by the spammer, whereas the global reputation of the message is that the message is spam. As such, the local reputation of the message may provide useful information to the message recipient.

The computer components, software modules, functions and data structures described herein may be connected directly or indirectly to each other in order to allow the flow of data needed for their operations. It is also noted that software instructions or a module can be implemented for example as a subroutine unit of code, or as a software function unit of code, or as an object (as in an object-oriented paradigm), or as an applet, or in a computer script language, or as another type of computer code or firmware. The software components and/or functionality may be located on a single device or distributed across multiple devices depending upon the situation at hand.