UTM Gateway Email Filtering via External Security Appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing email protection systems are complex, costly, and require significant processing, memory, and storage capacity due to the integration of multiple functionalities into a single device, such as Unified Threat Management (UTM) gateways, which complicates setup and management.
Innovation Solution
An email filtering process that offloads filtering tasks to an external Email Security Appliance, allowing a UTM gateway to receive emails, send them for filtering, and then forward the filtered status to a Junk Store, reducing the need for local anti-spam appliances and minimizing device capacity requirements by establishing separate communication connections for each step.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple protection functions are integrated into a single UTM gateway device, then protection coverage is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the email protection architecture into separate functional components: a UTM gateway device that provides attack prevention and virus scanning, and a separate anti-spam appliance that handles spam filtering. This segmentation allows each device to specialize in specific functions, reducing the complexity and cost of individual devices while maintaining comprehensive protection coverage through their coordinated operation.
2Reliability
If a separate anti-spam appliance is placed between firewall and mail server, then spam protection is improved, but system complexity and equipment quantity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the UTM gateway device and anti-spam appliance into a coordinated system where both devices operate together to provide comprehensive email protection. The UTM gateway handles attack prevention and virus scanning, while the anti-spam appliance handles spam filtering. By merging their functions in a coordinated manner with integrated communication protocols, the system achieves comprehensive protection without requiring separate standalone devices for each function.
3Device complexity
If UTM gateway sends emails to external Email Security Appliance for filtering, then local device capacity requirements are reduced, but network communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces standardized communication protocols and interfaces as intermediaries between the UTM gateway device and the Email Security Appliance. These intermediaries facilitate efficient email transmission and filtering status communication, reducing network overhead. The UTM gateway sends emails to the external Email Security Appliance for filtering, and the standardized protocols ensure that this external communication does not significantly impact processing efficiency while successfully reducing local device capacity requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A local gateway device receives email across the internet from a sender of the email and forwards it across the internet to an email filtering system. The email filtering system analyzes the email to determine whether it is spam, phishing or contains a virus and sends it back to the local gateway device along with the filtered determination. The local gateway device forwards the received email and the filtered determination to a local junk store which handles the email appropriately. For example, if the email has been determined to be spam, phishing or containing a virus, the junk store can quarantine the email and if the email has been determined to be non-spun and/or not phishing and/or not containing a virus, the junk store can forward the email to a local mail server for delivery.