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Email Address Matching

Many email triggers in the user policy allow you to define lists of included or excluded email addresses.

When you define these lists, be aware of the different email address formats. First, if required you can search for display names. Second, you must know the protocols used by your email server, because these affect the use of wildcard characters for address matching.

The main protocols are discussed below:

Matching all email address formats

With careful planning, you can define lists of included or excluded email addresses that match against any targeted address, regardless of the email format used.

Display names

CA DLP automatically searches for email display names, so you can add items such as 'Spencer Rimmel' or '*Rimm*' to your list of included or excluded addresses.

Note: CA DLP interprets a space between address elements as an AND operator.

SMTP

The most commonly used protocol for sending and receiving email, SMTP addresses take the following form:

spencer.rimmel@unipraxis.com

To match against a specific organization, add this list item:

*unipraxis.com

To match against a specific person, add this list item:

spencer.rimmel*

Note: For incoming emails in Microsoft Outlook, be aware that SMTP addresses may be converted to EX addresses if the sender's address already exists in an Outlook address book. In this situation, to ensure that policy triggers activate as expected, you may need to include both SMTP and EX versions in your list of included or excluded addresses or define a list that matches all email address formats.

EX

This protocol is used internally by Microsoft Outlook. You may need to specifically include EX addresses when defining email triggers, for example, to capture emails sent internally within your organization. EX addresses take the following form:

/o=Unipraxis/ou=uk/cn=spencer/cn=rimmel

To include EX addresses in a policy list, you need to amend this format by inserting spaces between each address element (CA DLP interprets spaces as AND operators). This ensures the policy trigger always activates, regardless of how the email address elements are ordered. For example:

Domino

This protocol is used internally by Microsoft Outlook and Domino. You might need to specifically include Domino addresses when defining email triggers, for example, to capture emails sent internally within your organization. Domino addresses use this format:

/o=unipraxis/ou=uk/cn=spencer/cn=rimmel

To include Domino addresses in a policy list, you need to amend this format by inserting spaces between each address element (spaces are interpreted as AND operators). This ensures the policy trigger always activates, regardless of how the email address elements are ordered. For example:

Bloomberg alias addresses

These are alias addresses for participants in Bloomberg IM conversations or Bloomberg messages embedded in EML emails generated by CA DLP utilities Cnv2email.exe or BB2email.exe. These alias addresses are stored as x-headers in the email and can be analyzed by CA DLP policy engines. Bloomberg alias addresses use this format:

BLP:/CN=99775533/O=222555

where CN= identifies an individual user, and O= is the Firm ID. To explicitly include Bloomberg alias addresses in a policy list, you need to add the relevant identifiers. For example:

X.400

A widely-used protocol in Europe and Canada and an international standard, X.400 email addresses take the following form:

c=uk;a= ;p=Unipraxis;o=Exchange;s=rimmel;g=spencer

To explicitly include X.400 addresses in a policy list, you must amend the above format by inserting spaces between each address element (CA DLP interprets spaces as AND operators). This ensures that the policy trigger always activates, regardless of how the email address elements are ordered. For example:

Internal emails

CA DLP uses the same methods of address matching to identify internal emails. That is, the guidelines above also apply when you define 'internal' address patterns in the user policy.

More information:

Matching All Email Address Formats

Spaces in Email Addresses

Wildcards and Policy List Items