Email Address Screening for Lookalike Phishing Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current email phishing detection methods, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are inadequate against sophisticated phishing attempts using lookalike email addresses, and existing solutions fail to prevent new domain names from being used for nefarious purposes or when attackers gain admin privileges to legitimate domains.
Innovation Solution
An email system that inspects email addresses for suspicious patterns, such as numeric characters between alphabetic characters, different scripts, or non-alphanumeric symbols, and validates domain names against registries to identify potential phishing attempts, and takes actions like sequestering or notifying the user.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional phishing detection tools (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are used, then domain authentication is improved, but they cannot detect lookalike usernames or domains that pass these checks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the email address validation process into multiple independent analysis components: domain-level checks (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), username pattern analysis, visual similarity detection, and behavioral indicators. This segmentation allows each component to address specific aspects of phishing detection without being limited by the weaknesses of any single method.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of email addresses before delivery to the user's inbox. It pre-identifies suspicious patterns in usernames and domains, and pre-calculates visual similarity metrics between the email address and known legitimate addresses, so that phishing emails are flagged before the user needs to make a judgment.
2Reliability
If blacklisting techniques are used, then known malicious domains are blocked, but new domain names cannot be registered and used for nefarious purposes before being added to the blacklist
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary validation of email addresses against multiple criteria before they reach the user's inbox. It checks for suspicious patterns in username construction, analyzes visual similarity to known legitimate addresses, and evaluates domain reputation indicators in advance, so that new phishing domains are detected immediately upon use rather than waiting for blacklist updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic, multi-layered detection system that continuously adapts to new phishing techniques. Rather than relying on static blacklists that require periodic updates, the system uses real-time pattern recognition and visual similarity analysis that can immediately identify novel phishing attempts based on their structural and visual characteristics.
3Ease of operation
If admin privileges are gained to a legitimate email domain, then emails can be sent from the same domain, but users have little to no reason to distrust the email
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the trust verification process into multiple independent factors: domain authentication (which passes for compromised domains), username pattern analysis, visual similarity detection, and behavioral indicators. Even when domain authentication passes, the other segments can independently flag the email as suspicious, preventing authorized phishing from succeeding.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer of analysis between the email delivery mechanism and the user's trust decision. This intermediary performs visual similarity comparison and pattern analysis that acts as a mediator, preventing users from automatically trusting emails that appear to come from legitimate domains but exhibit suspicious characteristics in the username or overall structure.
4Ease of operation
If email addresses are scrutinized by end users, then some phishing attempts can be detected, but human vision and perceptibility alone are not sufficient to detect sophisticated phishing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an automated intermediary system that performs visual similarity analysis and pattern recognition between the email address and known legitimate addresses. This intermediary processes the comparison objectively and presents the results to the user, eliminating the limitations of human visual perception while still maintaining ease of operation through automated analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital representation or 'copy' of legitimate email address patterns and uses this copy as a reference for comparison. By copying the structural and visual characteristics of legitimate addresses and comparing incoming emails against this reference, the system achieves detection precision that exceeds human capabilities while keeping the interface simple for users.
Data Source
AI summary
System and method for anti-phishing emails based on link domain name and user feedback The invention provides a system and a method for anti-phishing emails based on link domain name and user feedback. The system comprises an email receiving device, an email pre-processing device, an email property judging device, an outputting device and a feedback processing device. The method comprises the following steps: analyzing characteristics of the link domain name in the email, combining with a controlled network user feedback strategy, and identifying phishing emails and doubtful phishing emails. The Invention has advantages of high identification efficiency, low resource consumption and no error rate. The Invention can be configured to email servers, gateway servers and the like that require high real-time performance, protect the controlled network user against cheating by the phishing emails, resist the interference from the spiteful user in the controlled network, and can be widely applied to the application fields of network email filtering management, anti-phishing attack and the like.