Patent ID: 8578480

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for detecting a spoofing situation with respect to one or more electronic communications, the method comprising: receiving an electronic communication through a network interface addressed to a recipient; storing the electronic communication in computer memory; determining, by one or more processors and prior to the communication being provided to the recipient, that the electronic communication includes a link associated with a description of a first entity and that the link links to first content represented as particular content of the first entity, wherein the first content includes a first set of elements; identifying a legitimate version of the particular content including a second set of elements, wherein identifying the legitimate version includes identifying a first fingerprint of one or more elements from the legitimate version; generating a second fingerprint, wherein the second fingerprint is a fingerprint of one or more elements from the first content; determining a degree of match between the first and second sets of elements based at least in part on a comparison of the second fingerprint with the first fingerprint, wherein determining the degree of match includes determining whether one or more elements of the first set of elements originate from a second entity different from the first entity; detecting, by the one or more processors, prior to the communication being provided to the recipient that a spoofing situation exists with respect to the received electronic communication based upon the determined degree of match; and in response to detecting that a spoofing situation exists, blocking the communication from being provided to the recipient.