A METHOD OF, AND SYSTEM FOR, PROCESSING EMAIL IN PARTICULAR TO DETECT UNSOLICITED BULK EMAIL

摘要

In order to alleviate problems caused by delivery of unwanted or unsolicited email (spam), email traffic is analysed for patterns of traffic which indicate or suggest that the emails are spam; when the system detects a pattern it thinks is spam it can take remedial action, e.g. blocking delivery of the emails involved, either itself or to a human operator. Analysis of email takes place by scanning a database of data abstracted from emails. These data are primarily abstracted from the emails when regarded as "containers" (i.e. without reference to the message contents).