Metadata Retention for Suspicious Email Transmissions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current email systems often lose valuable metadata when messages are moved from their original locations, especially when filtering suspicious messages, leading to a need for a system that retains metadata during data transmission.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a memory device and processing devices configured to execute computer-readable code for flagging suspicious data transmissions, automatically retaining metadata, and placing them in a queue for suspicious transmissions, utilizing a private distributed ledger to verify legitimate senders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If messages are moved from their original locations for filtering, then security is improved, but metadata is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the message content from its metadata, storing them in different locations. When a message is moved to quarantine or junk folder, the metadata is extracted and stored separately in a metadata repository, preventing information loss while enabling security filtering.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary extraction and storage of metadata before messages are moved or filtered. This ensures that even if messages are relocated or deleted, their associated metadata remains preserved for future analysis and security purposes.
2Reliability
If suspicious messages are automatically moved to quarantine, then security is improved, but useful metadata is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts metadata from suspicious messages and stores it separately in a metadata repository before moving messages to quarantine. This extraction process ensures that useful metadata such as sender information, routing details, and authentication data are preserved independently of the message content.
Solution Approach 2:
The system appears to discard messages in quarantine but recovers and preserves their metadata. The metadata is retained in a separate repository, allowing security analysts to access and analyze it even when the original messages are removed or permanently quarantined.
3Loss of information
If metadata is retained for suspicious messages, then information preservation is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a metadata repository as an intermediary component between the message filtering system and the original message storage. This separate repository handles metadata storage and retrieval operations, isolating the complexity of metadata management from the core message filtering functionality.
4Reliability
If all data transmissions are monitored for suspicious activity, then security detection is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial monitoring by focusing computational resources on analyzing metadata of suspicious messages rather than examining the full content of all incoming transmissions. This selective approach to metadata analysis reduces processing time while maintaining effective security detection capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments provide a system for flagging data transmissions for retention of metadata and triggering appropriate transmission placement. Embodiments receive a plurality of data transmissions represented in a transmission queue; determine that a first data transmission of the plurality of data transmissions is suspicious; and, in response to the determination, automatically flag the first data transmission for retention of metadata associated with the first data transmission. The data transmission may then be placed in an appropriate location.