Method and apparatus for reducing e-mail spam and virus distribution in a communications network by authenticating the origin of e-mail messages

摘要

The proposed invention solves the problem of spoofing the origin to create e-mail spam, virus distribution, and other abuse of the electronic mail. In particular, it solves a notoriously dangerous problem of distributing computer viruses via e-mail allegedly sent from friends, colleagues, and well-respected organizations. The proposed invention defines a comprehensive set of mechanisms and apparatus to reasonably ensure that an e-mail message -when received by an e-mail gateway (16), e-mail relay server (18), or the destination e-mail server (20) has originated at the location and sent by a person (or a program) specified in its "From:" field. <IMAGE>