JP2003348162A - Spam mail prevention method and spam mail prevention system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spam mail prevention method and a spam mail prevention system for utilizing the spam mail received by a user so as to exclude spam mail to other users. <P>SOLUTION: A received electronic mail database 3 for converting a received electronic mail into database and a user terminal 20 are connected to a mail reception server 2, the user terminal 20 transmits spam mail information to a spam mail preventing apparatus 10 and a spam mail information database 13 registers the information. The spam mail preventing apparatus 10 compares the spam mail information stored in the spam mail information database 13 with electronic mail information stored in the received electronic mail database 3 according to contents of the information, and regards the mail so a spam mail when the expressions in the contents of the information items are coincident with each other or closely resemble with each other, and exclude the mail from a distribution object of the reception server 2 with respect to all the user terminals. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spam mail preventing method and a spam mail preventing system, and more particularly, to a spam mail preventing method and a spam mail preventing method, which eliminates the need to receive repeated mails from a partner who does not want to receive the mail. About the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of personal computers and the Internet, transmission and reception of electronic mails have been actively used. E-mail is managed by a mail server connected to the Internet. For example, when a mail is sent from the user A to the user B, when the mail server receives the mail from the user A, it is determined whether or not the destination of the received mail is a user managed by the mail server. If there is, the received mail is stored in the mail server. By accessing the mail server, the user B can acquire and browse the mail addressed to himself.

[0003] However, the spread of the Internet, on the other hand, is not convenient, but because the actual situation of the sender cannot be seen, e-mails such as advertisements and sales are sent to an unspecified number of people without permission.
Acts such as sending a mischief mail to the address of another person obtained by some method are apt to occur, and trouble and damage on the receiving side occur frequently.

Conventionally, in order to prevent unsolicited e-mails, a destination e-mail address or a domain name of a mail sent from another mail transmission server is set for each user, and thereafter, a designated destination e-mail address is designated. Alternatively, this problem has been dealt with by rejecting mail transmission to the user from the domain name (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-339236).
No.).

[0005] Alternatively, reception condition information is set in advance, and a large number of e-mails (or e-mails whose sender is unknown in the reception condition information) from the same sender are automatically excluded from the server (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-2000). 163341), when the received e-mail is an e-mail of an address managed by another mail server, the mail server inquires of the user whether or not to permit the delivery to the user (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
002-073492).

[0006]

However, according to the conventional junk mail prevention method and junk mail prevention system, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-339236, the source electronic mail server is an electronic mail transmitted from the user terminal device. If you do not have a function to check the e-mail address of the e-mail sender, it will be possible for the sender user to assume that the e-mail was sent from another e-mail address. Spam may be sent regardless of the setting.

[0007] Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-163341, it is impossible to exclude only a large number of e-mails from the same sender after receiving the e-mails. Become. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-073492, it is necessary to make an inquiry to the user every time there is an e-mail of an address managed by another mail server, so that the processing load on the mail server becomes large.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a junk mail prevention method and a junk mail prevention system that can eliminate junk mail to other users by using junk mail received by a certain user. is there.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a first feature that, when an e-mail received by a user terminal device is a spam mail, information on the mail is unsolicited. Notify the network side as mail information, save the received e-mail received by the mail receiving server, register the junk mail information from the user terminal device in the database, and match the junk mail information registered in the database Alternatively, when a very similar mail exists in the received e-mails, the junk mail prevention method is characterized in that the e-mails are excluded from distribution targets of the mail receiving server.

According to this method, on the network side,
A database is constructed by acquiring spam information on spam from any of the user terminal devices, and if a mail that matches or closely resembles the spam information registered in the database exists in the received e-mail, Since the mail is excluded from the distribution target of the mail receiving server, the excluded electronic mail is not delivered to any user terminal device, and the damage due to the unsolicited mail is greatly reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mail receiving server which distributes an electronic mail received from a network side to a user terminal device in response to a reception request. A received e-mail database for converting the received e-mail into a database, a plurality of user terminal devices receiving distribution of an e-mail addressed to the user from the mail receiving server, and junk e-mail information from at least one of the user terminal devices. An information setting unit to be acquired, a spam mail information database in which spam mail information from the information setting unit is registered, and a mail reception request from any one of the user terminal devices, or a regular start, The spam information stored in the spam information database and the spam information stored in the received e-mail database When the e-mail information is identical or very similar, to provide a spam prevention system, characterized in that regards the mail as spam comprises excluding information comparing means from the delivery target of the mail receiving server.

According to this configuration, when the unsolicited mail is received by any of the user terminal devices, the information is accumulated in the unsolicited mail information database through the information setting unit, and is received together with the electronic mail information of the unsolicited mail information database. When the e-mail information stored in the completed e-mail database matches or closely resembles, the information comparison unit regards the e-mail as unsolicited e-mail, and is set not to be delivered from the e-mail receiving server. Therefore, the e-mail excluded from the received e-mail database is not delivered to any user terminal device, and the damage caused by the unsolicited e-mail is greatly reduced.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a spam mail prevention system of the present invention. A mail transmission server 1 is connected to a network (not shown), a mail reception server 2 is connected to the mail transmission server 1, and a received e-mail database 3 is connected to the mail reception server 2. Have been. A junk e-mail prevention device 10 is connected to the e-mail reception server 2 and the received e-mail database 3. This junk mail prevention device 10
Are connected to the user terminal devices 20 and 30, and the mail receiving server 2 is connected to the user terminal device 20. The mail receiving server 2 receives the electronic mail transmitted from the mail transmitting server 1, and distributes the electronic mail to the user terminal device 20 (and other user terminal devices) by receiving the reception request. The received e-mail database 3 is a database of e-mails received by the mail receiving server 2. Confirmer 4
Is a network-side operator who checks the contents of the spam mail.

The unsolicited mail preventing apparatus 10 is connected to an information comparing unit 11 connected to the mail receiving server 2 and the received e-mail database 3, an interval timer 12 connected to the information comparing unit 11, and an information comparing unit 11. Spam mail text database 13 (spam mail information database), information comparison unit 11, and user terminal device 20
Request notification unit 14 connected to the user terminal device 2
The information setting unit 15 is connected to the information setting unit 15 and the information reference / update unit 16 connected to the junk mail text database 13.

The user terminal devices 20 and 30 include a personal computer, a portable telephone, a PHS (Personal Handyp
hone System) An electronic device such as a telephone that can receive e-mail. The user terminal device 20 is a nuisance information setting function unit 2
The user terminal device 30 includes an e-mail software 31 including a nuisance information setting function 32. Email software 21, 31
Is software for browsing e-mails and transmitting created e-mails.
The junk information setting function 12 selects the junk mail received by the e-mail software 21 (or 31), and transmits the text to the information setting unit 15. here,
Although only two user terminal devices are shown, there are actually an arbitrary number of user terminal devices. In FIG. 1, the user terminal device connected to the mail receiving server 2 is the user terminal device 20, but it goes without saying that the user terminal device can be connected to other user terminal devices.

The information comparing section 11 compares the text of uncompared e-mail data in the received e-mail database 3 based on the unsolicited e-mail information stored in the unsolicited e-mail text database 13, The received e-mail data is regarded as unsolicited e-mail and is deleted from the received e-mail database 3. The information comparison unit 11 also has a function of notifying the mail reception server 2 of a reception request from the user terminal device 20 when the comparison has been completed for all e-mails in the received e-mail database 3. I have.

The interval timer 12 notifies the information comparing unit 11 of a comparison request (start request) at regular time intervals. The junk mail text database 13 is a database of junk mail text information (spam mail information) notified by the user. The reception request notifying unit 14 receives a request for receiving a mail transmitted to the mail receiving server 2 from the electronic mail software 21 on the user terminal device 20 and notifies the information comparing unit 11 of the comparison request. The information setting unit 15 receives the junk mail information from the junk information setting function 12, which is one of the functions of the e-mail software 21 (or e-mail software 31) operating on the user terminal device 20 (or the user terminal device 30). Is registered in the spam mail database 13. The information referencing / updating unit 16 is used to visually update the junk mail text database 13 by the checker 4, displays the text in the junk mail text database 13, and determines that the junk mail is not junk mail. The unwanted junk mail information is deleted from the junk mail text database 13.

Here, a schematic operation of the junk mail prevention system having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described. In the following, it is assumed that the user terminal device 20 is the target. The user of the user terminal device 20 notifies the junk mail prevention device 10 of the text of the junk mail delivered to the user terminal device 20 possessed via the mail receiving server 2 as junk mail information. The junk e-mail prevention device 10 converts the text of the junk e-mail notified from the user terminal device 20 into a database and stores it in the junk e-mail text database 13. A request to receive e-mail from the user terminal device 20 is notified to the annoyance prevention device 10, or based on a request to update the junk e-mail text database 13 to the information comparing unit 11 at regular intervals by the interval timer 12, The information comparing unit 11 compares the contents of the e-mail stored in the received e-mail database 3 with the contents registered in the spam mail text database 13. Information comparison unit 1
After completing the comparison, 1 sends a transmission request to the user terminal device 20 to the mail receiving server 2. The mail receiving server 2 deletes the junk mail.

FIG. 2 shows a spam mail text database 13.
Shows the process of registering information to In the following flowcharts, steps are represented by S. User terminal device 2
When the junk mail is delivered to the user No. 0, the user selects the target junk mail on the electronic mail software 21 (S101). The text of the selected junk mail (junk mail information) is sent to the junk mail prevention device 10 by the junk information setting function 12 of the user terminal device 20 (S102). The unsolicited email information from the user terminal device 20 is received by the information setting unit 15 (S103), and registered in the unsolicited email text database 13 (S104). The confirmer 13 determines whether the registered junk mail information may be processed as junk mail by the information reference / update unit 1.
The content is determined by confirming the content displayed in S6 (S105). If the confirmer 13 approves, it is additionally registered in the spam mail database 13 (S106), and if not, the spam mail database 13
Is deleted without registering it in (S107). In this way,
The junk mail text database 13 stores junk mail information.

FIG. 3 shows a process of a mail receiving operation in the user terminal device. When a user receives an email,
The user operates the user terminal device 20 to send an e-mail reception request to the junk mail prevention device 10 (S20).
1). This e-mail reception request is received by the reception request notification unit 14 of the spam mail prevention device 10 (S202), and the reception request notification unit 14 notifies the information comparison unit 11 of the comparison request. The information comparing unit 11 compares the text of the e-mail stored in the received e-mail database 3 with the junk mail information in the junk mail text database 13 (S203), and when there is a matching mail (S20).
4), the e-mail database 3 that has received the mail
(S205).

When the comparison between the text of the e-mail stored in the received e-mail database 3 and the junk e-mail information in the junk e-mail text database 13 has been completed (S206), the information comparison unit 11 sends the mail reception server 2
, A reception request from the user terminal device 20 is transmitted (S207). In response to the reception request notification from the information comparison unit 11, the mail receiving server 2 distributes an electronic mail to the user terminal device 20 (S208). User terminal device 2
0, the contents distributed from the mail receiving server 2 are received using the e-mail software 21;
0 in a built-in semiconductor memory or the like (S209). As described above, from the mail receiving server 2 to the user terminal device 2
For 0, only the e-mail from which the junk mail has been deleted is delivered. The spam mail text database 13
Are updated by a comparison request (start request) from the interval timer 12 even when there is no comparison request from the reception request notification unit 14. This processing will be described below.

FIG. 4 shows a process of updating the received e-mail database 3 by the interval timer 12.
The interval timer 12 starts counting until the set time is reached (S301). When the count value of the interval timer 12 reaches a certain value,
The interval timer 12 notifies the information comparing unit 11 of a comparison request (S302). The information comparison unit 11 having received the notification starts comparing the unsolicited email text database 13 with the received email database 3 (S303).
It is determined whether the mail texts match (S304).
The matching e-mail is deleted from the received e-mail database 3 (S305). The process of S304 is repeated until there is no comparison target between the junk mail text database 13 and the received e-mail database 3, and if the comparison for all the targets is completed (S30)
6), the comparison processing ends.

By providing the processing of FIG. 4, the comparison processing is performed before an e-mail reception request comes from the user terminal device 20. Therefore, the reception request is notified from the user terminal device 20 and then sent to the user terminal device 20. The time it takes for an email to arrive can be reduced. The spam mail text database 13 holds information registered from a plurality of user terminal devices. Therefore, the user terminal device 2 connected to the unsolicited mail prevention device 10
0 and the user terminal device 30 share information about the content of the junk mail, and the junk mail distributed to the received e-mail database 3 of another user based on the registration of the junk mail information from a certain user. Is deleted.
Thus, even when no junk mail has arrived at one's own user terminal device, if junk mail has arrived at another user's terminal device, no junk mail is delivered to one's own user terminal device.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, a plurality of users can share the spam mail text database 13 and the distribution of the spam mail to other users can be suppressed by the contents registered by one user. Because you can
E-mail that is judged as junk e-mail by a certain user is regarded as junk e-mail by all users, and is not delivered from the mail receiving server 2. Therefore, all other users need to take measures against junk e-mail. In addition, it is possible to prevent mails having the same text (unwanted mails) from being distributed to an unspecified number of people. Furthermore, since the determination as to whether or not the mail is junk mail is made based on the text of the mail, it is possible to prevent the distribution of the junk mail without depending on the source e-mail address or domain name.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 shows the processing of the junk mail prevention system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, when comparing the contents of the received e-mail database 3 with the junk e-mail message database 13, even if the two do not match, the contents are used in the e-mail message in the sent e-mail message. Noun, word
It is characterized in that it is decomposed for each element such as verb and adverb, words are compared for each element, and if a certain number of words or more match, the whole sentence is regarded as matching. Second
Although the system configuration according to the embodiment is as shown in FIG. 1, the information comparison unit 11 has a function of decomposing two e-mail texts to be compared for each element, and performing comparison on an element basis. are doing.

The operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the mail receiving operation (S
501) (S201 to S203 and S205)
To S209) are the same as in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, when the user receives an e-mail,
First, the user sends an e-mail reception request to the junk e-mail prevention device 10 using the user terminal device 20 (S2).
01). This reception request is received by the reception request notification unit 14 (S202), and the reception request notification unit 14 notifies the information comparison unit 11 of the comparison request. The information comparing unit 11 compares the text of the e-mail stored in the received e-mail database 3 with the junk mail information in the junk mail text database 13 (S203), and compares the junk mail text in the junk mail text database 13. And the words used in each sentence of the e-mail text in the received e-mail database 3 are decomposed into elements such as nouns, verbs, and adverbs, and the words are compared for each element. It is determined whether or not the number of words match (S501).

If it is determined by the comparison in S501 that there is a match, the mail is deleted from the received e-mail database 3 (S205). The other mails are also compared (S206), and after completion of the comparison processing, the information comparing unit 11 transmits a reception request from the user terminal device 20 to the mail reception server 2 (S207). Mail receiving server 2
Distributes the e-mail to the user terminal device 20 (S208). The contents distributed from the mail receiving server 2 are e-mails from which unsolicited e-mails have been deleted, and are stored in a built-in semiconductor memory or the like after reception (S209).

As described above, in the second embodiment, even if the sender of the spam mail distributes the contents of the spam mail to each recipient with a slight change, the spam mail is regarded as a common spam mail. Since it can be considered and deleted, the opportunity of distributing unsolicited mail can be reduced. By the way, the first
In the embodiment of the present invention, the e-mail address or the like of the recipient is simply added to the text of the unsolicited mail, and the effect is small for the unsolicited mail in which the text itself is exactly the same.

In the above-described embodiment, whether or not spam should be deleted is determined by comparing texts or comparing words in element units such as nouns, verbs, and adverbs. It is not limited to these. For example, expressions that express obscene or sexual customs (words, words, expressions, etc.), expressions that discriminate against women or specific ethnic groups, expressions that are social issues, expressions that insult specific countries or people, etc. If there is any text that includes at least one, it may be immediately regarded as spam.

[0030]

As is clear from the above, according to the junk mail prevention method of the present invention, junk mail information on junk mail is acquired from any user terminal device, a database is constructed, and registered in the database. If the received e-mail matches or closely resembles the unsolicited e-mail information, the e-mail is excluded from the distribution target of the e-mail receiving server. Since the distribution of the unsolicited e-mail can be quickly and effectively excluded without being distributed to the device, the distribution of the unsolicited e-mail can be prevented.

Further, according to the spam mail prevention system of the present invention, when a spam mail is received at any of the user terminal devices, a database of the spam mail information is created by the spam mail information database, and the spam mail information database is created. The e-mail information in the database and the e-mail information stored in the received e-mail database are compared by the information comparison means, and when they match or closely resemble each other, the corresponding mail is regarded as junk mail and is excluded from the distribution target of the mail receiving server. With this configuration, the excluded e-mail is not delivered to any user terminal device, and the distribution of unsolicited e-mail can be excluded early and effectively, thus preventing the distribution of unsolicited e-mail. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a spam mail prevention system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of registering information in a spam mail text database of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of a mail receiving operation in a user terminal device of the junk mail prevention system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of updating a received e-mail database by the interval timer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of the second embodiment of the junk mail prevention system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 mail sending server 2 Mail receiving server 3 Received email database 4 Confirmers 10. Spam mail prevention device 11 Information comparison section 12 Interval timer 13 Spam mail text database 14 Reception request notification section 15 Information setting section 16 Information reference / update section 20, 30 user terminal device 21,31 Email software 22, 32 Junk information setting function

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. When an e-mail received by a user terminal device is unsolicited e-mail, information about the e-mail is notified to a network side as unsolicited e-mail information, and a received e-mail received by an e-mail receiving server is stored. And registering unsolicited e-mail information from the user terminal device in a database, and when an e-mail that matches or closely resembles the unsolicited e-mail information registered in the database exists in the received e-mail, the e-mail is stored in the received e-mail. A method for preventing unsolicited e-mail, which is excluded from distribution targets of an e-mail receiving server. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination as to whether or not the received e-mail has a mail that matches or closely resembles the junk mail information is performed based on whether or not the text matches or resembles the same. The spam prevention method described. 3. A determination as to whether or not an email that matches or closely resembles the unsolicited email information is present in the received electronic mail is performed by using words used in the text of the email for each element such as a noun, a verb, and an adverb. 2. The method for preventing unsolicited e-mail according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed by decomposing the words into words, comparing the words in element units, and including the words in a certain ratio or more. 4. A determination as to whether an e-mail that matches or closely resembles the unsolicited e-mail information is present in the received e-mail includes an expression belonging to obscene or sexual manners, an expression discriminating a woman or a specific ethnic group, 2. The method for preventing unsolicited mail according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed when there is a text including at least one of an expression in question and an expression that insults a specific nation or a nation. 5. The processing for excluding the electronic mail from the distribution target of the mail receiving server is executed when a mail receiving request is issued from the user terminal device or when a time interval set by a timer has been reached. The method for preventing unwanted e-mail according to claim 1, wherein: 6. The registration of the database is performed by a third party judging whether data in the database corresponds to unsolicited mail, and when it is determined that the data does not correspond to unsolicited mail, the data is read from the database. 2. The method for preventing unsolicited email according to claim 1, wherein the unwanted email is deleted. 7. A mail receiving server for delivering an e-mail received from a network side to a user terminal device in response to a reception request, a received e-mail database for converting the e-mail received by the mail receiving server into a database, A plurality of user terminal devices that receive distribution of an electronic mail addressed to the user from the mail receiving server; an information setting unit that obtains spam mail information from at least one of the user terminal devices; and a spam mail information from the information setting unit. A spam mail information database in which is registered, a spam mail information stored in the spam mail information database and the received electronic mail, which is started when there is a mail reception request from any of the user terminal devices or periodically. If the email information stored in the email database matches or closely resembles the email, Spam prevention system, characterized in that it comprises the excluded information comparing means from the delivery target of the mail receiving server is regarded as spam. 8. The spam mail prevention system according to claim 7, wherein said information comparison means is connected to an interval timer for issuing a start request to said information comparison means at predetermined time intervals. 9. The spam mail according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of user terminal devices have a spam information setting function of selecting the received spam mail and transmitting the text to an information setting unit. Prevention system. 10. The spam mail information database,
8. The junk e-mail prevention system according to claim 7, wherein an information reference / update unit for deleting designated junk e-mail information in response to an external request is connected. 11. The junk mail prevention system according to claim 7, wherein the information comparison means compares the contents of the text to determine the match or the similarity. 12. The information comparing means decomposes two e-mail texts to be compared for each element of a noun, a verb, and an adverb, compares the elements in units of the elements, and includes a certain number of words or more. The junk mail prevention system according to claim 7, wherein the matching or the close similarity is determined by performing the following. 13. The information comparing means may include at least one of an expression belonging to obscene or sexual customs, an expression discriminating a woman or a specific ethnicity, an expression causing a social problem, and an expression insulting a specific nation or nation. The junk e-mail prevention system according to claim 7, wherein the match or the close resemblance is determined based on whether or not a text including "" exists in the received e-mail database.