Patent · US Active

Replacement of e-mail attachment with URL

US11126722B1 · kind B1 · utility

1Cited by
2References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 1, 2019
Grant dateSep 21, 2021
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 4, 2040

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L51/212
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An attachment to an e-mail message is replaced with a URL before that message is delivered to an end user, thus providing more time to perform a better scan at a cloud server computer. The attachment is removed from the e-mail message and sent to the cloud server computer for a dynamic scan and a static scan which will likely include updates better able to detect malicious software. The e-mail message with the URL is delivered to the end user and there is a delay before the end user reads the message or attempts to open the attachment. An artificial delay may be introduced at an e-mail gateway before the message is delivered to the end-user. If the attachment is benign then the end user is allowed to download it via the URL; if the attachment is malicious then the end user is only given a warning message.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.