Outgoing Call Interception and Reputation Querying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users are vulnerable to fraudulent outgoing calls to malicious phone numbers, often resulting in financial loss and data compromise, as they unknowingly dial expensive toll numbers or share sensitive information, due to lack of protection mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that intercepts outgoing call attempts, temporarily disables them, queries a reputation server for the called number's reputation, and displays reputation results to the user before allowing the call, enabling them to make informed decisions or cancel the call.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users dial phone numbers received from messages, then communication with contacts is enabled, but users may inadvertently connect to malicious numbers resulting in financial loss and data compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by querying the reputation server before the call is placed to obtain reputation results for the phone number. This advance checking allows the system to warn the user or block the call before the harmful action occurs, resolving the contradiction by enabling safe calling without exposing users to malicious numbers.
Solution Approach 2:
The reputation server acts as an intermediary between the user and the phone number. Instead of directly connecting the user to the called number, the system introduces a middle layer that provides reputation information, allowing informed decision-making while maintaining the ease of operation.
2Reliability
If the system intercepts and blocks outgoing calls to check reputation, then user protection is improved, but call connectivity and user convenience are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to the user through reputation results displayed before the call. This feedback mechanism allows users to make informed decisions about whether to proceed with the call, maintaining call connectivity for safe numbers while protecting against malicious ones, thus resolving the contradiction between protection and convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial blocking by only intercepting and checking calls to numbers with unknown or suspicious reputations, while allowing calls to known safe numbers to proceed without interruption. This selective approach maintains user convenience while providing necessary protection.
3Reliability
If the system displays reputation results to users, then informed decision-making is enabled, but additional time is required for reputation checking and user review
Solution Approach 1:
The reputation checking is performed as a preliminary action before the call is placed, allowing the system to prepare safety information in advance. This ensures that when users need to make a call, the reputation information is already available, minimizing additional time requirements while maintaining informed decision-making capability.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed computer-implemented method for protecting against outgoing calls to malicious phone numbers may include (1) intercepting, at a computing device, an attempt to initiate an outgoing phone call, (2) disabling, at the computing device and at least temporarily, the attempt, (3) querying a reputation server for a reputation of an outgoing phone number associated with the attempt, (4) receiving, at the computing device, reputation results from the reputation server, and (5) performing a security action comprising displaying, on a user display of the computing device and prior to enabling the attempt, at least a portion of the reputation results. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.