Email Link Categorization and Phishing Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Email systems are susceptible to phishing attacks, where users are tricked into entering personal and confidential information by clicking on malicious links that appear legitimate, making it difficult to identify and differentiate between text and links, especially when links are hidden in images or icons.
Innovation Solution
An Information Handling System (IHS) equipped with computer-executable instructions to identify, categorize, and display links in an email message, using an embedded link search tool and a search rules customizer to arrange links into categories and highlight potentially malicious links.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users manually inspect email content to identify links, then they can detect phishing attempts, but the process is time-consuming and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic link identification and categorization without requiring user intervention. The email client automatically extracts links, categorizes them by domain, and highlights potential phishing attempts, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring manual user inspection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-processes email content by identifying and categorizing all links before the user views the email. By performing link extraction and domain analysis in advance, the system prepares security information ready for immediate display, eliminating the need for users to manually inspect each link.
2Loss of information
If all links are displayed in email messages, then users have access to all information, but it becomes difficult to differentiate between legitimate and malicious links
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments links by their domain names, grouping related links together and separating them from unrelated ones. This segmentation allows users to see all links while simultaneously organizing them in a way that makes identification easier, with potential phishing links highlighted separately from legitimate ones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses color coding to differentiate between legitimate and potential phishing links. By changing the visual appearance (color) of suspicious links, the system maintains complete link information while making it easy for users to distinguish between safe and malicious links at a glance.
3Ease of operation
If links are hidden in images or icons to make emails more visually appealing, then email aesthetics improve, but phishing detection becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts link information from images and icons, pulling out the underlying URLs and domain names. By taking the link data out from its visual container, the system maintains the visual appeal of embedded images while simultaneously making the link information accessible for security analysis and display.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between the visual presentation layer and the security analysis layer. It processes images and icons to extract link information, then presents this information in a separate security-focused view, mediating between aesthetic presentation and security detection needs.
Data Source
AI summary
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, systems and methods for identifying, categorizing, and displaying links in an email message are disclosed. According to one embodiment, an Information Handling System (IHS) includes computer-executable instructions to receive a request to identify one or more links in an email message, identify one or more links in the email message, arrange each of the one or more links in one of a plurality of categories, and display the arranged links for view by a user.