FR3027427A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURING AND PROVIDING EMAILS - Google Patents

Abstract

System and method for securing and providing emails generated by a publisher module (10) and destined for a recipient unit (40), comprising: - an editor module (10) of emails; an e-mail securing unit (20) located remote from the editor module (10) and operated by a third party operator, and comprising an authentication module (21) designed to authenticate the publisher module (10) that has generated the e-mail a mail storage module (23) designed; - a sender module (30), designed to send to each recipient unit (40) an announcement notification of sending an email from an email editor completed by a security token; the security unit (20) furthermore comprising a control module (22) designed to check said security token from a recipient unit (40) and to deliver access to the e-mail to this recipient unit (40) original.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a system for securing and providing emails generated by a publisher module and intended for a receiving unit. . It also relates to a corresponding security method. STATE OF THE PRIOR ART (0002) The personal data of internet users represents an important asset for fraudsters and hackers on digital networks, These data, of different natures, can be used for multiple purposes. The most innocuous data can be of great value as they allow for example to carry out financial transactions, so Internet users are a prime target of malicious people who try to steal directly from the people concerned. [0003] One of the methods used more and more frequently by fraudsters is the so-called "phishing" method by e-mail.The fraudster sends an e-mail to a user of the Internet network. natural person, or a representative of a legal entity) to enjoin him to connect to an rnet, or to answer by return e-mail, to complete, update, his personal data including his username and password required for the use of certain services (messaging, online payment, online banking, etc.). ). The website to which the fraudster refers is however not the legitimate site of the service that allegedly sent the email. To abuse the trust of his victim, the fraudster formalizes his email so as to believe that it comes from a known brand. Verif mail - 2 - [0004] When connecting to the said Internet service, the user can identify the address of the Internet site (URL), and in particular check the conformity of the electronic signature of the site presented to him. Such verification is relatively simple but requires, to thwart any attempt at fraud, knowledge or technical skills including that are not accessible to the largest number of Internet users. Some protection devices already exist. They are offered by software publishers (Internet browsers, anti-virus software). These devices are however not free from defects. [0007] Indeed, they only protect users against fraud attempts that have previously been detected. Systematic detection can not be achieved in the state of the art of existing techniques. [0008] Moreover, the user will effectively be protected only if the equipment used to connect to the fraudulent site actually has such a device or the software providing the protection of the equipment has all the necessary data and An user, even if he uses such protective devices, may therefore be exposed to the risk of theft of his personal data at least for as long as the devices protection have been able to identify the attempt of fraud. [0010] The largest emitters of e-mails thus face, more and more frequently, a usurpation of their mark or their identity. Fraudsters commonly use the identity of a third parties, most often trusted by its users or customers, to send fraudulent, non-legitimate e-mails to obtain the desired personal data. Email issuers, in general, thus need to protect their own customers or users by allowing them to verify, in a simple and explicit way, the legitimacy of the e-mails they send them. address. Document FR2853175 relates to a method and an encryption system particularly adapted to the security of electronic mail, it makes it possible to prevent the encryption of the body of a message from generating certain symbols, called control characters, which can provoke unwanted phenomena during the transmission of the message The encryption uses a pseudo-random generator, previously initialized in known manner.The successive values provided by this generator are used to code the successive symbols of the body of the message, any control characters present in the plaintext message being transmitted without modification The document FR2900010 describes a method for securing data transfer comprising: a step of attempting to transmit a document from a document issuer to at least one recipient of document, implementing at least one transmission attribute and; at least one transmission attempt step, a value evaluation step of at least one transmission attribute and; a step of providing the issuer with the evaluation of the value of the transmission attribute. Preferably, during the evaluation step, the evaluation is a function of the correspondence anomalies observed for each transmission attempt and the evaluation is, furthermore, a function of the elements provided by the recipient during a step d registration for an electronic document transmission service. The document EP2761583 describes a system for securing the exchange of electronic mail in which at least part of the transmission of a first outgoing electronic mail that emanates from a first mail account Verif_mail - 4 - electronic and which is intended for at least a second email account is encrypted. Second e-mail address data is changed according to the second e-mail account to cause the first e-mail responses that are destined for the second e-mail account to be sent to an intermediate device before these responses are received. routed to the second email account. Responses to the first email are then sent to the intermediate device and sent through one or more encrypted channels. Responses to the first email, including the modified email address data, are decoded to identify the second email address data associated with the second email account. A response to the first email is then sent to the second email account based on the identified second email address data. The state of the art thus reveals the existence of several types of solutions. However, these solutions imply that the entities involved in e-mail exchanges execute the sending and receiving steps in a very specific manner, or that these entities themselves have security tools, such as encryption tools. , integrated into their system. To overcome these disadvantages, the invention provides different technical means. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0017] First of all, a first object of the invention is to provide an e-mail security system allowing a completely transparent use for e-mail issuers. Another object of the invention to provide a secure e-mail system requiring no installation to be performed by the recipients. Verif_mail - 5 - [0019] Another object of the invention consists in providing a method of securing e-mails allowing the recipient to ensure the legitimacy of the issuer of the e-mail, without having to perform complex or tedious manipulation. (0020) To this end, the invention provides a system for securing and making available emails generated by a publisher module and intended for a recipient unit, comprising: an e-mail editor module, designed to prepare and format e-mails for a plurality of potential recipient units; an e-mail securing unit, potentially remote from the publisher module and operated by a third-party operator (certified), and including an authentication module designed to authenticate the publisher module; having generated the email, an email storage module designed to store the original emails from publisher modules; - a sender module, designed to send to each recipient unit an email notification from an email editor including by a token of securing; the security unit also comprising a control module designed for to secure said security token from a destination unit and to deliver to said destination unit an initial email access token. The system according to the invention allows the recipient of the electronic mail, upon receipt, to verify the identity of the issuer and the nature of the information that is transmitted to him without it requiring him to have 25 skills or knowledge that he could not be deemed to possess. Advantageously, the sender module is associated with the e-mail editor module. According to an advantageous embodiment, the authentication module is also designed to deliver a security token insertion to an original email and send to an associated sender module. Verif_mail - 6 - [00241 Advantageously, the security unit also comprises an election module designed to elect one or more sending modules associated with the publisher module from which the original email originated. Alternatively, one or more senders modules can be integrated into the security unit. According to another advantageous variant, the recipient unit comprises a plurality of elements. It may be for example a computer station to receive the notification with security token, and a mobile phone to request access to the control module using the security token. The invention also provides a method of securing and providing e-mails for recipient units, comprising the steps in which: a trusted third party operates and makes available to a plurality of publisher modules a unit securing emails; an email editor module generates an original email addressed to a recipient unit and sends it to the email security unit; an authentication module authenticates the publisher module from which the original email comes; an original email storage module stores the original emails from publisher modules; the authentication module integrates a security token into the original email and transmits it to a sender module; the sender module sends the recipient unit an e-mail notification comprising said security token; The recipient unit identifies itself to a control module of the security unit; - After verification by the control module, the storage module or the Verif control module generates an original email access token to be transmitted to the destination unit; the control module delivers to the recipient unit the access token of the original e-mail; - The receiving unit obtains a copy of the original e-mail re-encoded or not re-encoded. With the method according to the invention, it is no longer necessary to detect a priori attempts "hacking." Indeed, the method provides the recipient of the email a way to verify, without doubt, that the email received is indeed a legitimate mail and not an attempt to fraud. The recipient is thus given the means to be more suspicious and therefore more cautious with respect to emails that he can not verify. The method is therefore not intended to inform the users of the present invention of a risk, but to confirm to them the absence of risk for a given electronic mail, which can be verified by means of the method described below, and this as soon as possible. that the mail has been received. The method is also advantageous since the user can remove any doubt about an e-mail he has received and that he could verify by means of the present invention, without incurring a risk in any period of time (such as the time of detection of a "phishing" campaign undertaken by fraudsters, or the updating of its equipment, for example). So that the user can verify the identity of the issuer and the content of an email received, the process aims to enrich the content thereof. In order to be verified, the e-mail passes through an intermediate server ("proxy"), an integral part of the invention. This intermediate server through which the e-mail passes checks beforehand that the sender is accredited to send an e-mail through this server. The service can only be used by a previously approved third party issuer Verif mail - 8 - whose identity (whether a legal person or a physical person) could have been verified. Alternatively, several editor modules can be connected to the same unit for securing e-mails. Similarly, a plurality of sending modules can be connected to the same unit for securing e-mails. Advantageously, the notification of sending an email including said security token transmitted by the sender module to the recipient unit, includes the initial email and the security token. Also advantageously, the step of identifying the destination unit with the control module is performed on the basis of the security token previously received from the sender module.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES [0034] All the details of embodiment are given in the description which follows, supplemented by FIGS. 1 to 3, presented solely for purposes of non-limiting examples, and in which: FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation; a system for securing e-mails according to the invention; FIG. 2 is a functional flowchart illustrating the main steps of the method of securing e-mails according to the invention; FIG. 3 is a table showing the conversion steps required according to the types of e-mails of origin. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to one characteristic of the invention, once the transmitter is authenticated, the intermediate server automatically adds a security token. This security token is unique: each email message Verif mail - 9 - is a single token. It is non-predictive: a third party can not guess the content of the token according to any criteria or parameters depending on the email for example. (0036) The security token makes it possible to establish a complete link between the received electronic message and all the information making it possible to verify the legitimacy of the message (for example its previously authenticated transmitter, the date and time of sending , message content) and saves the content and containing (equivalent to the envelope) of the email in a storage module.

The storage of this information is associated with the token determined by the authentication module. The storage in memory is made for the purpose of advantageously allowing the recipient unit to confront them with the received electronic mail. This memory may, for example, be a database operated by the security unit. Advantageously, this database is local. [0038] The e-mail security unit transparently interchanges between the e-mail editor module and the associated sender module responsible for the routing of the e-mail. According to one embodiment of the invention, the sender can be an email server (SMTP). The method is particularly advantageous because it does not force to modify or specifically prepare the content of the electronic mail implemented at the editor module. [0041] The recipient of the electronic mail can use the security token (or the information added by the authentication module) to verify the Vertmail - 10 - legitimacy and integrity. The added information, or token, can take a directly readable form by the recipient, which he can use via an internet service. Otherwise, the token can be implemented in the form of non-intelligible data for the end user, such as a two-dimensional barcode, to simplify the verification of the email received by the recipient. It can thus advantageously, by means of a smartphone ("smartphone" in English) or other equipment, verify the authenticity of the email received. The recipient of the electronic mail, using the information which the intermediate server has enriched it, can easily check the information that has been stored in memory by the intermediate server to confront the content and the container. received email. The security token transmitted to the destination unit is used by the control module to find in the storage memory data relating to a specific email. Preferably, to guarantee the security and confidentiality of the data stored by the security unit, it verifies that the recipient unit has used a certified exchange mode and can not be any third party attempting to recover data for fraud purposes. In a particular embodiment of the invention, and by way of illustration, this verification of the mode used to interrogate the security unit is performed on the basis of a presentation of a verifiable certificate with a trusted third party, or 'a shared secret. Similarly, the recipient unit must be protected from an attempt to usurpation of the security unit by a third party. It must easily be able to verify that the requested security unit is legitimate, and that it is in liaison with the editor module of the electronic mail to allow the recipient unit to verify the authenticity. In one embodiment of the invention, and for illustrative purposes, the security unit will provide the recipient unit with Verif proof of identity, which may take the form of a verifiable certificate from a trusted third party. , or a shared secret. Thus, the publisher module can guarantee to the recipient module that the method used by the latter is the true process authorized by itself to enable it to verify the legitimacy and integrity of e-mails that it sends to it. In case of attempted fraud by a third party, which would use for example a falsified token, the method would highlight the fact that the token data are non-existent. Indeed, an attempt to fraud that would be to believe that the email is legitimate and that it can be verified, could contain a falsified token. In such a case, the token having no correspondence in the memory of the security unit, the unit receiving the email can be notified that the email in question corresponds to an attempt at fraud or theft of personal data. The recipient unit may then avoid taking into consideration the content of the received email, otherwise at risk of fraud or theft of personal information. In the example illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a publisher module 10 prepares an email intended for a recipient unit 40. In order to ensure that the recipient unit 40 is able to verify the legitimacy and the integrity of the email module from the publisher module, the latter sends the electronic mail to a security unit 20. The exchanges made between the different elements of the system are advantageously secured by known usual means such as, for illustrative purposes, the setting up a secure virtual network (VPN). Thus only a publisher module 10 duly identified by the authentication module 21 of the security unit 20 can send a verifiable electronic mail according to the method of the invention. The security unit 20 generates a security token, comprising a unique identifier for the e-mail sent, optionally randomly or in a secret method using a non-predictive algorithm. The content of the electronic mail, enriched with the token, as well as its envelope, are stored (step 105), in an electronic memory, associated with this unique identifier to allow a search, a posteriori, of its content and information concerning its issue, in particular and as an illustration the identity of the issuer and the date of sending the email, through its unique identifier. If several sending modules 30 are available, the security module queries a correspondence table between the publisher module and a sender module to determine which sender module relay the e-mail to send it to the intended destination unit 40. The token is added to the content of the electronic mail in a format compatible with the transmitter module and easily identifiable and recognizable by the recipient unit. The latter then routes the electronic mail to the recipient unit, for example via the Internet. As an option, the security module, following the SMTP protocol used for the exchanges with the editor module, confirms the sending of the electronic mail. After the sending of the electronic mail by the sender module 30, the receiving unit receives the electronic mail. The user can then take note of the token possibly provided with a unique identifier. According to a particular embodiment, the recipient user can use a device for reading two-dimensional code (eg QR-Code) Verif mail - 13 - to extract the unique identifier of the email and use his ordiphone for subsequent exchanges with the security unit. The token will be used by the recipient to obtain the security module 20, the stored data of the initial email. In order to guarantee the confidentiality of the information held by the security unit and to guarantee to the recipient user that it is addressed to the security module in effective relation by the publisher module, the recipient module 40 and the security unit 20 perform a mutual authentication of both with the aid of a control module 22. The recipient unit presents to the control module 22 a proof that it uses one of the services certified by the intermediary to transmit the identifier in order to obtain the information corresponding to this identifier. As an illustration and in a particular mode of implementation of the method, this information may be an electronic certificate or a shared secret. The control module 22 checks the data obtained from the recipient unit 20. [00621Reciproquement, the security unit is authenticated to the recipient unit, in order to prove its legitimacy. As an illustration and in a particular mode of implementation of the method, this information may be an electronic certificate or a shared secret. In this way, the recipient unit and the security unit have reciprocally established the legitimacy of each other. The destination unit transmits the token to the control module 22. The security unit searches, in the e-mail storage module 23, the electronic mail 30 associated with this token. If the token sent by the recipient does not correspond to any stored element of the storage module, the receiving unit is informed that the electronic mail it is attempting to verify is an attempt at fraud. If the email exists, the security unit transmits to the recipient unit an access token for the e-mail stored in the storage module so that the user can obtain a copy of the initial e-mail. This copy can be used, for example, to check that the information matches that contained in the received e-mail. The recipient unit confronts the information received in the electronic mail with that provided by the security module. The information verifiable by the recipient module is thus the publisher module's email address, the content itself of the email, the Internet services email address to which the recipient is encouraged to connect through this email, the time and date of e-mail. (0066) Once the recipient unit obtains a confirmation of the legitimacy and the integrity of the received electronic mail, it can then contact the sender to interact with him. [0067] In the context of the electronic mail, the messages can be seen as having a header and a body according to the RFC5322 standard.The body of the email can be of different formats depending on the choice of the issuer.So an email can be composed of several parts according to the standard mechanism defined through RFC 2045, RFC 2046, RFC 2047, RFC 2048, and RFC 2049, each encoded in various formats as indicated by a "MIME" extension, but it can also be composed of a text in a simple format (type of content in the latter case, it may be necessary in practice to transform the body of the e-mail into a format composed of several parties (MIME "multi-part") to add information. The table in Figure 3 illustrates the different steps required depending on the case. Verif mail

Claims (9)

REVENDICATIONS1. System for securing and providing emails generated by a publisher module (10) and intended for a recipient unit (40), comprising: - an editor module (10) for emails, designed to prepare and format e-mails intended to a plurality of potential recipient units (40); an e-mail securing unit (20) located remote from the editor module (10) and operated by a third party operator, and comprising an authentication module (21) designed to authenticate the publisher module (10) that has generated the e-mail an email storage module (23) for storing initial emails from publisher modules (10); a sender module (30), designed to send to each recipient unit (40) a notification of announcement of sending an email from an email editor comprising a security token; the security unit (20) furthermore comprising a control module (22) designed to check said security token from a recipient unit (40) and to deliver to said destination unit (40) a token of access to the initial email. 2. System for securing and providing e-mails according to claim 1, wherein the sender module (30) is associated with the editor module (10) of e-mail. 3. System for securing and providing e-mails according to one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the authentication module (21) is also designed to deliver a security chip for insertion to an original email and sent to an associated sender module. 4. System for securing and providing e-mails according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the security unit (20) further comprises an election module designed to elect one or more sending modules (30). ) associated with the editor module (10) from which the original email originated. Verif mail-16- 5. System for securing and providing e-mails according to one of the preceding claims, wherein one or more sending modules (30) are integrated in the security unit (20). 6. System for securing and providing e-mails according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the recipient unit comprises a plurality of elements. 7. A method for securing and providing e-mails for recipient units (40), comprising the steps in which: - a trusted third party operates and makes available to a plurality of publisher modules (10) a securing (20) emails; - An editor module (10) emails generates an original email for a recipient unit (40) and sends (100) the latter to the unit for securing emails (20) emails; an authentication module (21) authenticates (110) the publisher module (10) from which the original email originates; an initial email storage module (23) stores (120) the original emails from the publisher modules (10); the authentication module (21) integrates (130) a security token with the original email and transmits them (140) to a sender module (30); the sending module (30) sends (150) to the destination unit (40) a notification of sending an email comprising said security token; the recipient unit identifies itself (160) with a control module (22) of the security unit (20); after checking (170) by the control module (22), the storage module or the control module generates (180) an original email access token to be transmitted to the destination unit (40); the control module (22) delivers to the recipient unit (40) the access token of the original e-mail; the recipient unit obtains (190) a copy of the initial e-mail re-encoded or not re-encoded. Verif_mail- 17 - The method of securing and providing e-mails according to claim 7, wherein the notification of sending an e-mail comprising said security token transmitted by the sender module (30) to the recipient unit (40), includes the initial email including the security token. 9. A method of securing and providing e-mails according to one of claims 7 or 8, wherein the step of identifying (160) the destination unit (40) with the control module (22) is performed on the basis of the security token previously received from the sender module (30). Verif_mail