The subject invention provides for an intelligent quarantining system and
method that facilitates detecting and preventing spam. In particular, the
invention employs a machine learning filter specifically trained using
origination features such as an IP address as well as destination feature
such as a URL. Moreover, the system and method involve training a
plurality of filters using specific feature data for each filter. The
filters are trained independently each other, thus one feature may not
unduly influence another feature in determining whether a message is
spam. Because multiple filters are trained and available to scan messages
either individually or in combination (at least two filters), the
filtering or spam detection process can be generalized to new messages
having slightly modified features (e.g., IP address). The invention also
involves locating the appropriate IP addresses or URLs in a message as
well as guiding filters to weigh origination or destination features more
than text-based features.