Patent ID: 8732256

Claim:
A method of registering an electronic-mail (e-mail) sender for the purpose of sending e-mail messages to an e-mail recipient, the method comprising: receiving a challenge answer sent from the e-mail sender to an independent third-party auditor, the challenge answer in response to a challenge message sent by the e-mail recipient; executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of the independent third-party auditor: evaluates validity of the response, and determines whether there is a pattern in challenge answers related to the e-mail sender that is indicative of spam; and sending a report from the independent third-party auditor to the e-mail recipient regarding the validity of the response and whether there is a pattern in challenge answers related to the e-mail sender that is indicative of spam, wherein the e-mail recipient processes e-mail messages from the e-mail sender based on the report.