Systems and methods for protecting header fields in a message

Abstract

Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein facilitate the transmitting, receiving, and processing of encoded messages wherein the header fields in the message header are protected. In one embodiment, the contents of the header fields to be protected are inserted into the message body as one or more additional lines of text, for example, prior to encoding and transmitting the message to a message recipient. Upon receipt of the message, the message recipient processes the encoded message such that the contents of the protected header fields can be extracted from the message body. Accordingly, by inserting the contents of the header fields to be protected into the message body, the header fields may be protected using existing standards and protocols for facilitating secure message communication.

1 . A method of receiving an encoded message at a computing device from a message sender device, the method comprising:
 receiving the encoded message from the message sender device, wherein the encoded message comprises an encoded message body, the encoded message body comprising content of one or more protected header fields inserted, at the message sender device, prior to encoding and transmission of the encoded message to the computing device;   decoding the encoded message body;   determining whether a disclaimer is located in the message body after said decoding; and   when the disclaimer is located in the message body, displaying the disclaimer in a user interface, the disclaimer indicating that the one or more protected header fields were protected by inserting the content of the one or more protected header fields into the encoded message body.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the encoded message further comprises one or more header fields corresponding to the one or more protected header fields, and the content of the one or more protected header fields has been deleted from the one or more header fields of the encoded message prior to the encoding and the transmission of the encoded message to the computing device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein one or more respective notices replace the deleted content of the one or more protected header fields, the one or more respective notices indicating that the content of the one or more protected header fields is protected. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein after deletion of the content of the one or more protected header fields, the one or more header fields of the encoded message are empty when the encoded message is received. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device is unable to extract the content of the one or more protected header fields from the message body, and the disclaimer provides a reason for the content of the one or more protected header fields being present in the message body. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a mobile device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more protected header fields comprises a subject field. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface further displays indicia indicating that one or more header fields of the encoded message has been protected. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the indicia comprises an icon displayed adjacent to the one or more header fields of the encoded message that has been protected. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the indicia comprises highlighting the one or more header fields of the encoded message that has been protected. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable storage medium upon which a plurality of instructions is stored, the instructions for which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of receiving an encoded message at a computing device from a message sender device, the method comprising:
 receiving the encoded message from the message sender device, wherein the encoded message comprises an encoded message body, the encoded message body comprising content of one or more protected header fields inserted, at the message sender device, prior to encoding and transmission of the encoded message to the computing device;   decoding the encoded message body;   determining whether a disclaimer is located in the message body after said decoding; and   when the disclaimer is located in the message body, displaying the disclaimer in a user interface, the disclaimer indicating that the one or more protected header fields were protected by inserting the content of the one or more protected header fields into the encoded message body.   
     
     
         12 . A computing device comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 receive an encoded message from a message sender device, wherein the encoded message comprises an encoded message body, the encoded message body comprising content of one or more protected header fields inserted, at the message sender device, prior to encoding and transmission of the encoded message to the computing device;   decode the encoded message body;   determine whether a disclaimer is located in the message body after said decoding; and   when the disclaimer is located in the message body, display the disclaimer in a user interface, the disclaimer indicating that the one or more protected header fields were protected by inserting the content of the one or more protected header fields into the encoded message body.   
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the encoded message further comprises one or more header fields corresponding to the one or more protected header fields, and the content of the one or more protected header fields has been deleted from the one or more header fields of the encoded message prior to the encoding and the transmission of the encoded message to the computing device. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein one or more respective notices replace the deleted content of the one or more protected header fields, the one or more respective notices indicating that the content of the one or more protected header fields is protected. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein after deletion of the content of the one or more protected header fields, the one or more header fields of the encoded message are empty when the encoded message is received. 
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the computing device is unable to extract the content of the one or more protected header fields from the message body, and the disclaimer provides a reason for the content of the one or more protected header fields being present in the message body. 
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the computing device comprises a mobile device. 
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more protected header fields comprises a subject field. 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 12 , wherein the user interface further displays indicia indicating that one or more header fields of the encoded message has been protected. 
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the indicia comprises an icon displayed adjacent to the one or more header fields of the encoded message that has been protected. 
     
     
         21 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the indicia comprises highlighting the one or more header fields of the encoded message that has been protected.