Email Analysis System for Internet Service Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Corporations lack visibility into the Internet services used by employees with their corporate identities, leading to reputational, compliance, and security risks due to the sprawl of personal and corporate user information across the Internet.
Innovation Solution
Employing email analysis using a combination of heuristic pattern analysis and machine learning to identify Internet accounts associated with a user, creating a record of these accounts, and providing insights into the data shared and activities performed through these accounts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If employees create accounts for various Internet services using their corporate identities, then they gain access to useful services, but corporations lose visibility and control over the data shared and activities performed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by analyzing emails sent to and from corporate identities to provide corporations with visibility into Internet services their employees use. The system monitors email communications related to service accounts, extracts information about services, data sharing, and activities, and reports this back to the corporation, creating a feedback loop that maintains awareness without restricting service access
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary email analysis system that sits between the employee's Internet service accounts and the corporation. This intermediary analyzes email communications to infer service usage information, acting as a mediator that provides visibility without directly accessing or controlling the actual service accounts, thus maintaining employee autonomy while informing the corporation
2Adaptability or versatility
If users constantly create accounts and supply personal information for various services, then they can access more services, but their digital footprint and security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to users about their digital footprint by analyzing their email communications and generating reports on what services they use, what data they share, and what activities they perform. This awareness feedback enables users to make informed decisions about their service usage and security posture without restricting their ability to access services
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of extensive digital footprint into a benefit by using email analysis to create visibility and awareness. The same email communications that represent security risks also serve as the data source for generating security insights, allowing users to understand and manage their digital footprint rather than simply exposing themselves to risks
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for detecting emails that pertain to Internet services are disclosed. Such emails can be recognized by heuristic pattern analysis that scans incoming emails for patterns known to pertain to certain Internet services. Emails relating to other Internet services can be detected by a machine learning classifier that uses labeled training data. These accesses to Internet services can be written to a data store. By employing these techniques across all emails of an entity, insight may be gained into the aggregate nature of Internet services being used. A policy engine may act on an individual email to request further information or action, quarantine the email, or to pass the email to other security tools. An aggregate account analysis engine can update the data store to provide a broad picture of Internet service usage within the organization (e.g., by department).