Email Attachment Hashing for Sensitive File Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional message management systems are unable to effectively intercept and determine whether an outgoing electronic mail message contains sensitive files, leading to potential unauthorized access and transmission of privileged information.
Innovation Solution
A re-configured message management system that converts sensitive files into images, generates hash values, and compares these values to a database to identify and block outgoing messages containing sensitive attachments, while also utilizing a neural network module to analyze image attachments and prevent bypass attempts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional message management systems are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but the ability to detect sensitive files is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-generates hash values for all sensitive files and stores them in a database before actual email transmission occurs. This preliminary action enables rapid comparison and detection without adding complexity to the real-time message processing flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hash values as an intermediary element between the sensitive files and the detection system. By converting files to hash representations, the system achieves accurate detection without directly handling complex file analysis during message processing.
2Reliability
If files are converted to images to prevent detection, then bypassing security is attempted, but detection accuracy should be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes sensitive files by converting them to images and generating hash values before they can be used in emails. This ensures that even if users attempt to convert sensitive files to images to bypass detection, the hashed image versions are already in the database for comparison.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates image copies of sensitive files and hashes these copies rather than the original files. This copying approach maintains security effectiveness while adapting to different file formats, as the image representation serves as a universal intermediate form for detection.
3Measurement precision
If hash comparison is performed on all attachments, then detection accuracy is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Hash values for all sensitive files are pre-calculated and stored in a database before any email processing occurs. This eliminates the need for real-time hash generation during message processing, significantly reducing processing time while maintaining detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs rapid hash comparison operations that allow it to quickly skip through attachments and identify sensitive files without thorough analysis of each file's content, thereby maintaining speed while ensuring detection accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of preventing unauthorized access to electronic mail attachment is disclosed herein. A message management system receives one or more files designated as sensitive files. The message management system generates one or more hash values by applying a hash function to each of the one or more images corresponding to the file. The message management system stores the one or more hash values in a database. The message management system receives an outgoing electronic message that includes an attached file. The message management system generates one or more attachment hash values for the attached file by applying the hash function to the attached file. The message management system compares the one or more attachment hash values to the database. The message management system determines that at least one attachment hash value matches at least one hash value. The message management system blocks the outgoing electronic message.