Patent ID: 7950047

Claim:
A method for use in managing delivery of messages over a network, comprising: receiving a plurality of messages over the network; for each message in the plurality of messages: determining an outbound message server for the respective message by identifying a last hop network address as the outbound message server based on a last network hop of the message prior to being received by a message server associated with a message recipient; if the respective message is digitally signed, authenticating the respective message, at least by verifying that the digitally signed message originated from a domain associated with a sender's address of the message by using a public component of a public/private key pair that is accessible to a domain name server (DNS) associated with the domain; and generating a report about the plurality of messages, wherein the report indicates for each outbound message server at least a number of messages that are digitally signed and authenticated, a number of messages that are unsigned, and a number of messages that are digitally signed but determined to be unauthentic based on the digital signature; and employing the report to selectively block messages allegedly from the domain associated with digitally signed messages.