Email Publisher Domain Identification Through Redirect Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies struggle to accurately identify the publisher domain in email communications due to discrepancies between the originator and publisher domain names, leading to ambiguity in automated email analysis and potential security risks.
Innovation Solution
A computing device collects URLs from emails, navigates to final destination URLs, and identifies the publisher domain based on the greatest count of final destination domains, while discarding prohibited domains and following redirects from activity tracking, SaaS, and security platforms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the originator domain name from email headers is used to identify the publisher, then the identification process is simple and fast, but the accuracy is low due to discrepancies between originator and publisher domain names
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by collecting multiple URLs from the email content before making the final domain identification. This includes extracting URLs from email body, HTML attributes, and signatures, then analyzing each URL's final destination through redirect following to determine the actual publisher domain, rather than relying solely on the originator domain header
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary analysis process that acts as a mediator between the originator domain and the final publisher identification. This intermediary step involves URL collection, redirect following, and domain counting to bridge the gap between the email sender and the actual content publisher, resolving the domain discrepancy issue
2Measurement precision
If all URLs in the email are followed to determine final destination domains, then the publisher domain identification accuracy is improved, but the processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by selectively processing URLs based on their relevance to publisher identification. It collects URLs from specific email sections (body, HTML attributes, signatures) and focuses analysis on URLs that are likely to lead to the publisher domain, rather than uniformly processing all links in the email, thus balancing accuracy with processing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements skipping by efficiently following redirects to reach final destination URLs without getting stuck in redirect loops or excessive intermediate steps. It uses a streamlined approach to traverse redirect chains quickly, extracting the essential publisher domain information while minimizing time spent on each URL analysis
3Measurement precision
If redirects from activity tracking, SaaS, and security platforms are followed, then the publisher domain identification accuracy is improved, but the risk of navigating to untrusted platforms increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback by maintaining a publisher index that stores previously identified publisher domains and their characteristics. During URL analysis, it compares encountered domains against this index to verify trustworthiness and consistency with known publishers, creating a feedback loop that enhances security while maintaining identification accuracy across multiple email analyses
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary verification layer that acts as a mediator between redirect navigation and final domain identification. This intermediary process checks domains against the publisher index and applies security validation before accepting a domain as the publisher, filtering out potentially harmful redirects while allowing legitimate publisher identification
Data Source
AI summary
A computing device is described. The computing device includes a processor, a memory, and instructions stored in the memory. When executed, the instructions cause the processor to collect a set of uniform resource locators (URLs) from an email. When executed, the instructions further cause the processor to navigate to a final destination URL for each URL of the set of URLs to determine a set of final destination URLs. When executed, the instructions also cause the processor to identify a single publisher domain based on the set of final destination URLs.