Email Hazard Warning System for Phishing Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is currently no advance warning system for actual phishing emails, leaving users unaware of potential threats until they interact with suspicious messages, which can lead to malicious actions and data breaches.
Innovation Solution
An advanced hazard warning system that intercepts emails before display, analyzes their content using predefined rules, and notifies users of suspected phishing attempts by modifying the email to display warnings, either through text boxes, pop-up windows, or highlighted flags, thereby preventing interaction with potentially hazardous messages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If users directly open and interact with received emails, then they can access email content quickly, but they risk interacting with phishing attempts and causing malicious actions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of email content before the user opens the email. An analysis engine scans the email for phishing indicators such as suspicious links, attachments, and content patterns, and provides a hazard warning score before the user interacts with the email, allowing users to avoid potentially harmful emails while maintaining quick access to safe ones
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary analysis engine between the user and the email content. This intermediary component automatically analyzes emails for phishing indicators and provides warning information to users, acting as a protective layer that enables fast email access while filtering out malicious content through automated analysis
2Reliability
If the system analyzes all emails for phishing indicators before display, then user safety is improved, but system complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different levels of analysis to different emails based on their characteristics. High-priority emails or those showing strong phishing indicators undergo more thorough analysis, while low-risk emails receive minimal or no analysis. The system focuses computational resources on specific high-risk areas rather than uniformly analyzing all emails, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high detection accuracy for problematic emails
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts analysis parameters such as the depth of content scanning, the strictness of phishing indicator thresholds, and the types of checks performed based on email characteristics. This allows the system to maintain high reliability for detecting phishing attempts while avoiding unnecessary complex analysis for safe emails, thereby managing system complexity effectively
3Loss of information
If the system provides detailed warnings and analysis for each suspicious email, then user awareness is improved, but user experience and email delivery speed are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides partial warning information based on the confidence level of phishing detection. For emails with high phishing probability, detailed warnings and multiple indicators are provided to ensure user awareness. For emails with low or moderate risk, minimal or no warnings are displayed, avoiding unnecessary information overload and maintaining fast email delivery for safe communications
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure generally revolves around providing users with advance warning that a message that they have received may be suspicious. The user may not be aware of known threats, may not recognize threats in real time, or may not be aware of new threats, and therefore may unintentionally interact with a hazardous message. A security awareness system, on the other hand, is aware of known threats and may become aware of new threats more quickly than users can be trained to identify them. The system may notify the user when one of these threats are found in their messages. The disclosure further provides systems and methods for updating the security awareness training for users for new threats that appear.