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US 10,834,061 B2Granted
Perimeter enforcement of encryption rules
AssigneeSophos Limited
InventorsRussell Humphries, Gordon Sullivan, Kenneth D. Ray, Anthony John Merry, Harald Schütz, Andreas Berger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Rules are applied at a network perimeter to outbound network communications that contain file attachments. The rules may, in a variety of circumstances, require wrapping of an outbound file from the endpoint in a portable encrypted container. The network perimeter may be enforced locally at the endpoint, or at any network device between the endpoint and a recipient.
Claims20
A computer program product for securing network traffic comprising computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:
- receiving an electronic communication from a sender for transmittal to a recipient, the electronic communication including at least one file;
- removing the at least one file from the electronic communication;
- according to a security protocol applicable to the sender, conditionally wrapping the at least one file into a portable encrypted container that contains an encrypted instance of the at least one file, an encrypted instance of a decryption key to decrypt the at least one file, and program code providing a user interface that supports user selection of a first mode of decryption using at least one resource remote from the portable encrypted container and authentication credentials for the recipient or a second mode of decryption based on local input of a password for locally decrypting the encrypted instance of the decryption key contained in the portable encrypted container;
- attaching the portable encrypted container to the electronic communication;
- and
- transmitting the electronic communication and the portable encrypted container to a network device for communication to the recipient.
3 more elements
A method for securing outbound network traffic, the method comprising:
- receiving an electronic communication from a sender for transmittal to a recipient, the electronic communication including at least one file;
- removing the at least one file from the electronic communication;
- according to a security protocol applicable to the sender, conditionally wrapping the at least one file into a portable encrypted container that contains an encrypted instance of the at least one file, an encrypted instance of a decryption key to decrypt the at least one file, and program code providing a user interface that supports user selection of a first mode of decryption using at least one resource remote from the portable encryption container and authentication credentials for the recipient or a second mode of decryption based on local input of a password for locally decrypting the encrypted instance of the decryption key contained in the portable encryption container;
- attaching the portable encrypted container to the electronic communication;
- and
- transmitting the electronic communication and the portable encrypted container to a network device for communication to the recipient.
3 more elements
A network device comprising:
- a first interface for receiving communications;
- a second interface for sending the communications over a data network;
- a memory;
- and
- a processor configured by computer executable code stored in the memory to secure network communications by performing the steps of receiving an electronic communication from a sender through the first interface for communication to a recipient, the electronic communication including at least one file, removing the at least one file from the electronic communication, according to a security protocol applicable to the sender, conditionally wrapping the at least one file into a portable encrypted container that contains an encrypted instance of the at least one file, an encrypted instance of a decryption key to decrypt the at least one file, and program code providing a user interface that supports user selection of a first mode of decryption using at least one resource remote from the portable encrypted container and authentication credentials for the recipient or a second mode of decryption based on local input of a password for locally decrypting the encrypted instance of the decryption key contained in the portable encrypted container, attaching the portable encrypted container to the electronic communication, and transmitting the electronic communication and the portable encrypted container to the recipient through the second interface.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.