Heuristic Phishing Detection System Using Segmented Analysis
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing threat of 'phishing' attacks, where malicious parties attempt to obtain personally identifiable information from users by misleading communications, poses a significant risk to users' credit ratings and financial security, as existing methods are inadequate in effectively protecting against such fraudulent attempts.
Innovation Solution
A method that analyzes heuristics related to communications to determine the likelihood of a fraudulent attempt, using factors such as the originator's reputation, geographical location, and client-specific interactions to identify potential phishing attempts, and performs actions such as warning users or adjusting the reputation of the originator based on these determinations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional communication filtering methods are used, then basic spam detection is maintained, but phishing attempts targeting personally identifiable information are not effectively detected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the phishing detection process into multiple independent heuristic analysis components: sender address analysis, subject line analysis, body text analysis, URL analysis, and attachment analysis. Each component evaluates specific aspects of the communication independently, then their results are aggregated to determine the overall phishing likelihood. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high detection accuracy through comprehensive analysis while maintaining manageable system complexity by organizing the analysis into modular, independent modules.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive heuristic analysis is performed on all communications, then phishing detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a tiered heuristic analysis approach where not all heuristic checks are applied uniformly to every communication. Instead, the system performs basic analysis on all communications and applies more comprehensive heuristic analysis selectively based on initial assessment, user profile, communication characteristics, and threat level. This partial action approach maintains high detection precision for suspicious communications while reducing processing time for benign communications, thereby optimizing the balance between detection accuracy and processing efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If user education and awareness programs are implemented, then users become more resilient to phishing, but the overall security ecosystem remains vulnerable to sophisticated attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary automated heuristic analysis system that operates between the phishing threat and the user. This intermediary system analyzes communications for phishing indicators and provides real-time warnings, alerts, and guidance to users before they interact with potentially malicious content. The intermediary enhances user awareness and protection by filtering and evaluating communications automatically, complementing user education programs with technological safeguards that detect and mitigate sophisticated phishing attacks that users might not recognize through education alone.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for protecting personally identifiable information are described. In an implementation, a method is described which includes analyzing heuristics which correspond to a communication to determine a likelihood that the communication relates to a fraudulent attempt to obtain personally identifiable information. A determination is made based on the determined likelihood of whether to perform one or more actions in conjunction with the communication.