Email Attachment File Format Conversion for Malware Nullification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current malware detection systems face challenges in effectively neutralizing malware attacks, particularly through email vectors, as they often slow down network traffic and struggle to access potentially malicious content without compromising network speed.
Innovation Solution
The system converts documents received via email to a safe file format, using a file nullifier module that includes a decode module, detect module, converter module, and encode module to identify and transform unsafe file types into safe ones, while providing a link for on-demand malware analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If malware detection systems scan all email attachments, then security detection capability is improved, but network speed and traffic flow deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary conversion of email attachments to safe file formats before they reach the malware detection stage. By converting documents to formats like PDF or images in advance, the system eliminates malware execution risks while maintaining network speed, as the conversion process is more efficient than full malware scanning.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and removes potentially malicious content from email attachments by converting them to safe formats. The harmful elements are separated and eliminated during the conversion process, allowing the legitimate content to pass through without slowing down network traffic for full scanning.
2Reliability
If comprehensive malware scanning is performed on all files, then malware detection accuracy is improved, but computational resources and processing time worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary conversion of email attachments to safe file formats before they reach the malware detection stage. By converting documents to formats like PDF or images in advance, the system eliminates malware execution risks while maintaining network speed, as the conversion process is more efficient than full malware scanning.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses disposable conversion of files to safe formats as a cheaper and faster alternative to comprehensive malware scanning. The converted files serve as temporary safe versions that can be processed quickly without the computational overhead of deep malware analysis.
3Reliability
If email attachments are converted to safe formats, then malware nullification is improved, but file format compatibility and user access convenience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system converts email attachments to universally compatible safe formats like PDF that can be opened by most users without special software. This multi-functional approach ensures both malware nullification and user access convenience, as PDF is widely supported across different platforms and applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the file format parameter of email attachments from potentially malicious formats to safe formats like PDF or images. This parameter transformation maintains the document's readability and accessibility while eliminating malware risks, preserving user convenience.
Data Source
AI summary
Generally discussed herein are systems, devices, and methods for malware nullification. A system can include a detect module to identify a file type of an attachment of the email, compare the identified file type to a list of unsafe file types, and in response to determining the identified file type is on the list of unsafe file types, remove the attachment from the email and forward the attachment to a database, a file converter module to receive the attachment from the detect module and convert the file to a safe file type so as to nullify malware in the attachment, an insert module to receive the file with the safe file type and replace the attachment of the email with the file with the safe file type, and a mail transfer agent to forward the email with the file with the safe file type to the client.