Outbound blacklist and alert for preventing inadvertent transmission of email to an unintended recipient

Abstract

A system and method provide an alert when identifying destination data designated for a recipient of a message meets a predefined condition and prompt a sender of the message for an input regarding the destination data when determining that the destination data meets the predefined condition. The sender is enabled to approve or disapprove the sending of the message using the destination data or revise the same. The destination data may be all or part of an address of the recipient previously identified and stored by the sender or a system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 determining, at a client device, whether domain destination data designated for a message meets a predefined condition; and   prompting a sender of the message at the client device for an input regarding the destination data when said determining indicates the destination data meets the predefined condition.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said determining is executed prior to transmission of the message 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said predefined condition is stored in a database in association with the destination data prior to said determining. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the message is transmitted to a recipient using the destination data only after receipt of confirmation from the sender via the input. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined condition is that an address contained in the destination data matches a predefined address stored in a database. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined condition is specified by the sender who is a user that is creating the message. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined condition is specified by a system administrator across multiple users. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein each of the multiple users is provided with a corresponding prompt when designating the destination data for a recipient of a respective message. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from the sender indicates approval or disapproval of the message for transmission. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-readable medium having stored therein a program for causing a computer to execute an operation, comprising:
 detecting initiation of sending a message responsive to activation of a send function by a sender of the message;   scanning the message for domain destination data and determining whether the destination data is contained in a database;   displaying an alert to the sender of the message when said determining indicates the destination data is contained in the database; and   enabling the sender to approve or disapprove sending the message based on a response of the sender to the alert.   
     
     
         11 . A system, comprising:
 a source computer determining whether domain destination data designated for a message meets a predefined condition; and   a display provided to the source computer prompting a sender of the message for an input regarding the destination data when said determining indicates the destination data meets the predefined condition.   
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein said determining is executed prior to transmission of the message. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 12 , comprising:
 a database storing the predefined condition in association with the destination data prior to said determining.   
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 13 , wherein an address in the destination data is compared with an address in an outbound blacklist database, and
 the sender is prompted for the input when the address matches content in the outbound blacklist database.