Patent Issued for Systems and methods for monitoring email template usage (USPTO 11663353): United Services Automobile Association

2023 JUN 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Wilkinson, Christopher Thomas (Boerne, TX, US), filed on May 11, 2021, was published online on May 30, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11663353 is assigned to United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be noted that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

“Electronic mail (email) is a popular way for groups of individuals and/or organizations to communicate information with one another. For example, an email may include imagery, such as text, an image, an interface, and so forth, to convey the information. Indeed, a sender may incorporate such information into an email to send to a recipient, and the recipient may view the information included in the email to respond accordingly, such as to provide information back to the sender. Further, a sender may have different email templates (e.g., graphic backgrounds, image-based headers, graphic watermarks) readily available to be able to quickly create and send multiple emails. As an example, the sender may select and use one of the email templates as a basis for emails of a common type and/or to be sent for a similar purpose, such as for sending to a particular group of recipients, for transmitting similar information to recipients, for collecting similar information from recipients, and so forth. An email template may include images, formatting, symbols, and the like that can be used to convey authenticity. For example, an email template may include a header, side panels, a footer, and/or a background with imagery (e.g., company logos) that conveys authenticity to a recipient.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described above. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers’ specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

“When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

“It is now recognized that, in some circumstances, an unauthorized entity may use an email template (e.g., a graphic header with a corporate logo) in a manner that was not intended by the template owner or developer (e.g., a company that uses the template for emails as a way of identifying and distinguishing itself). Indeed, the unauthorized entity may employ the email template to enhance a phishing operation by creating an impression of authenticity in recipients. As an example, the unauthorized entity may copy one of the email templates (e.g., header imagery) employed or created by the template owner to send to various recipients to collect confidential information in responses that would typically be transmitted to the template owner. As a result, recipients that respond to the email, thinking the email came from the template owner (e.g., based on assumed authenticity supported by the email template), may unintentionally and undesirably send information (e.g., confidential information) to the unauthorized entity. As used herein, a response to an email refers to any suitable digital interaction with the sent email, such as sending a response email to the sender of the sent email, interacting with a link or other content presented by the sent email, following an instruction provided in the sent email, and the like.

“Present embodiments are generally directed toward systems and methods to monitor information associated with usages of email templates. A trustworthy sender, such as an individual, an organization, an enterprise, and the like, may use an email template as a basis for sending multiple emails having the same or a similar format. By way of example, emails associated with the same email template may include a shared or common set of imagery, such as a common image, a common set of text, and so forth. Indeed, the sender may make slight modifications to the email template, such as based on a particular intended recipient, for incorporation into an email. For instance, the sender may modify the email template to add a recipient’s name, contact, or other associated information to personalize the email. The term email template may encompass a variety of template types having various imagery. As used herein, imagery may generally refer to any variety of objects, elements, and/or features that are displayed on a device upon opening or downloading an email having an email template. Such imagery may include graphics, watermarks, fixed text, modifiable text, text entry space, embedded imagery, image headers, logos, image side panels, image footers, background imagery, and the like. Such imagery may also be fixed or dynamic. Fixed imagery may be transferrable, unchanging graphics, while dynamic imagery may include links or instructions for obtaining and presenting imagery from a remote storage (e.g., a server). Dynamic imagery may be modified between submission in an email and receipt of the email based on how the server responds to a request for presentation at each stage. In some embodiments, imagery may include a single pixel, such as a dynamic pixel that is obtained from storage, such as a server. By coordinating presentation of the pixel, information related to an email incorporating the pixel (e.g., incorporating an email template that includes the pixel) can be obtained by the server or related control systems, as will be discussed in further detail below.

“As an example, the template owner or valid sender may use an email template to create an email that requests a recipient to provide information, such as personal, confidential, or sensitive information, to the valid sender in response to the email. However, in some circumstances, an unauthorized entity (e.g., a fraudulent entity) may obtain such an email and copy imagery of the email template created by the valid sender in order to use the imagery for a phishing operation in which the unauthorized entity requests information from recipients. For instance, the unauthorized entity may copy the imagery of the email template to create an email that disguises the unauthorized entity as the valid sender to convince the recipient to provide information to the unauthorized entity. That is, the email sent by the unauthorized entity may include the same or similar images, text, and/or other imagery as that of the email template created by the valid sender. By responding to the email sent by the unauthorized entity, the recipient may unintentionally provide information to the unauthorized entity instead of to the valid sender.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system, comprising: a server configured to store a plurality of imagery configured to be presented in an email template on an electronic device and/or an additional electronic device, wherein the server is configured to receive a request from the electronic device to retrieve an imagery of the plurality of imagery for use in the email template, and wherein the server is configured to receive an additional request from the additional electronic device to retrieve an additional imagery of the plurality of imagery for use in the email template; and a controller configured to perform operations comprising: monitoring information associated with the request and additional information associated with the additional request; comparing the information associated with the request with expected information associated with the request; comparing the additional information associated with the additional request with additional expected information associated with the additional request; determining authorized usage of the email template based on a match between the additional information and the additional expected information; determining unauthorized usage of the email template based on a mismatch between the information and the expected information; and adjusting the imagery stored in the server to an updated imagery that is different from the imagery to cause the updated imagery, instead of the imagery, to be presented in the email template on the electronic device as a result of the request in response to determining the unauthorized usage of the email template.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to store respective expected information associated with each imagery of the plurality of imagery, and the controller is configured to perform operations comprising: identifying the imagery from the plurality of imagery based on the information comprising a first portion of the respective expected information associated with the imagery; comparing the information with a second portion of the respective expected information associated with the imagery; and determining the unauthorized usage of the email template based on a second mismatch between the information and the second portion of the respective expected information associated with the imagery.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to store respective recipient information associated with a plurality of users, and the controller is configured to perform operations comprising: identifying a user from the plurality of users associated with the electronic device on which the updated imagery is presented based on the information comprising a portion of the respective recipient information associated with the user; identifying contact information associated with the user, account information associated with the user, or both via the respective recipient information associated with the user; and contacting the user via the contact information, modifying the account information associated with the user, or both in response to determining the unauthorized usage of the email template presenting the updated imagery on the electronic device as the result of the request.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to block adjustment of the additional imagery stored in the server in response to determining the authorized usage of the email template and to cause the additional electronic device to display the additional imagery.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a geographical location of the electronic device, an identifier of the electronic device, a language setting of the electronic device, or any combination thereof.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the imagery comprises an image, a link, a textbox, a pixel, a graphic, an icon, a symbol, a text string, or any combination thereof, configured to be displayed on the electronic device via the email template.

“7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by processing circuitry, are configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising: identifying first request information associated with a request transmitted by an electronic device based on a digital structure of an email template to retrieve first imagery of a plurality of imagery from a server for use in the email template by the electronic device; identifying second request information associated with an additional request transmitted by an additional electronic device based on the digital structure of the email template to retrieve the first imagery of the plurality of imagery from the server for use in the email template by the additional electronic device; identifying the first imagery from the plurality of imagery retrieved by the electronic device based on the first request information comprising a first portion of imagery information associated with the first imagery; identifying the first imagery from the plurality of imagery retrieved by the additional electronic device based on the second request information comprising the first portion of the imagery information; comparing the first request information with a second portion of the imagery information, the second portion of the imagery information being indicative of expected information associated with the request; comparing the second request information with a third portion of the imagery information, the third portion of the imagery information being indicative of additional expected information associated with the additional request; determining authorized usage of the email template based on a match between the second request information and the third portion of the imagery information; determining unauthorized usage of the email template based on a mismatch between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information; and adjusting the first imagery stored in the server to a second imagery to adjust the first imagery retrieved by the electronic device to the second imagery for use in the email template in response to determining the unauthorized usage of the email template.

“8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the first request information comprises a first time stamp associated with transmission of the request, the second portion of the imagery information comprises a second time stamp indicative of an expected time of the transmission of the request, and the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, are configured to cause the processing circuitry to determine the unauthorized usage of the email template based on a difference between the first time stamp and the second time stamp exceeding a threshold period of time.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, are configured to cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising: determining a value associated with the email template based on comparison between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information, wherein the value is indicative of a number of mismatches between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information, a degree of the mismatch between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information, or both; and determining the unauthorized usage of the email template in response to the value exceeding a threshold value.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, are configured to cause the processing circuitry to flag the email template in response to determining the unauthorized usage of the email template based on the mismatch between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, are configured to cause the processing circuitry to determine the authorized usage of the email template based on an additional match between the first request information and the second portion of the imagery information.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the first request information is indicative of a first set of imagery to be retrieved, the first set of imagery comprising the first imagery, and the second portion of the imagery information is indicative of a second set of imagery to be retrieved, the second set of imagery being different than the first set of imagery.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent, see: Wilkinson, Christopher Thomas. Systems and methods for monitoring email template usage. U.S. Patent Number 11663353, filed May 11, 2021, and published online on May 30, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11663353)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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