Patent ID: 7526809

Claim:
A network comprising: an intranet connected to the Internet; a plurality of client devices coupled with said intranet; an antivirus system that traps e-mail messages transmitted between the Internet and one of said client devices, said trapped e-mail messages being stopped and stored before reaching said client device by a trapping module not residing on said client device; a heuristic-based processor that profiles one of said trapped e-mail messages to determine a protection level and determines that said one trapped e-mail message is infected by an unknown computer virus according to a heuristic rule dependent upon said protection level; a virus pattern generator that generates a virus pattern for said unknown computer virus; a computer virus database that stores said generated virus pattern; and a countermeasure generator that generates an antivirus cure for said unknown computer virus using said generated virus pattern, whereby said antivirus cure is produced to counteract said unknown computer virus.