SMS Content Overlay Blocking for Smishing Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies are ineffective in blocking social engineering attacks, particularly smishing, which use SMS to trick users into interacting with malicious content, often missing dynamic and deceptive phishing attempts.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that uses a client application to intercept and analyze SMS content on a user's device, overlaying suspicious elements on the interface and blocking interactions with potentially malicious content, utilizing a cloud-based knowledge base and accessibility services to identify and prevent user engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network traffic filters and anti-virus solutions are used to block malicious content, then known viruses and spam can be detected, but social engineering attacks like smishing can evade detection
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of SMS messages by extracting electronic content and comparing it against a block list cache before the user interacts with the message. This proactive approach allows the system to identify and warn about potential smishing attacks before they can manipulate the user, addressing the limitation of reactive filtering approaches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary client application that sits between the SMS messaging system and the user interface. This intermediary extracts electronic content from messages, analyzes it against security criteria, and controls whether the message content is displayed or blocked, providing an additional layer of security that specialized attack types cannot easily bypass.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If security filters block suspicious content, then malicious messages can be prevented, but legitimate messages may be incorrectly blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies security analysis locally to each SMS message by extracting its electronic content and evaluating it individually against the block list cache. This granular approach allows legitimate messages to pass through while blocking only those that match known malicious patterns, avoiding over-blocking of safe content.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback to users when a message is blocked by displaying a warning that the message contains elements to be blocked. This feedback mechanism allows users to understand why a message was blocked and potentially report false positives, improving the system's ability to distinguish between malicious and legitimate content over time.
3Reliability
If existing security solutions quarantine malicious content, then viruses can be contained, but users can still access phishing content
Solution Approach 1:
The system takes preliminary anti-action by blocking the display of SMS messages containing malicious electronic content before the user can access them. Unlike quarantine approaches that allow access, this system prevents the phishing content from being displayed in the first place, eliminating the risk of user exposure to manipulative content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the electronic content from SMS messages and separately analyzes it against security criteria. By separating the content extraction from the message display, the system can identify and block malicious elements while maintaining the integrity of legitimate messages, preventing phishing content from reaching the user interface.
4Reliability
If comprehensive content analysis is performed on all messages, then malicious content can be detected, but processing time and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs partial analysis by extracting only the electronic content from SMS messages and comparing it against a pre-existing block list cache, rather than analyzing every aspect of each message. This selective approach provides adequate security detection while minimizing processing time and resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The block list cache is prepared in advance containing known malicious patterns and elements. By having this reference data ready before message analysis, the system can quickly compare extracted content against known threats without requiring complex real-time analysis, reducing processing time while maintaining detection reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of enhancing the security of a third-party electronic content received on a client device by a third-party application via a network, the method being implemented in the client device by a client application, and characterised in that the method comprises : extracting the third-party electronic content; determining whether the received third-party electronic content contains at least one element to be blocked; if the third-party electronic content contains at least one element to be blocked overlaying the third-party electronic content on a user interface of the client device; and blocking interaction with the third-party electronic content on the user interface of the client device.