US 9,071,650 B1Granted

Method, system and computer program product for enforcing access controls to features and subfeatures on uncontrolled web application

AssigneeSocialware, Inc.

InventorCameron Blair Cooper

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Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein provide feature-level access control functionality useful for enforcing access controls to features and subfeatures on uncontrolled, third party Web Applications such as those associated with social networking sites. Specifically, pages of uncontrolled Web applications are programmatically inspected as they are accessed by users of an enterprise computing environment. Specific features on the pages are located and access to these features is enabled or disabled on a per user basis. A modified page is generated if feature(s) on a Web page is/are to be disabled. To block certain feature(s), content may be rewritten on-the-fly. Because embodiments disclosed herein can programmatically inspect a Web page and understand what is on the page at a much finer granularity, it is possible for enterprises to gain benefits that may come from embracing social networking sites without risking the downsides of allowing enterprise users access to uncontrolled Web applications.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method for feature-level controls on uncontrolled Web applications, comprising:

at a server computer having a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to monitor network traffic to and from social networking sites and implement a feature-level control functionality:
processing, by the server computer, a request for a Web page of a social networking site having a distinct set of features, wherein the request is associated with a user in a computing environment, and wherein the Web page comprises unstructured application data originated outside and independent of the computing environment;
obtaining, by the server computer, the Web page from a network location outside of the computing environment;
programmatically inspecting, by the server computer, the Web page, wherein programmatically inspecting comprises:
examining the unstructured application data using one or more source-specific filters stored on non-transitory computer memory accessible by the server computer;
identifying each specific type of information contained in the unstructured application data corresponding to one or more features in the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
and
determining if any feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, the feature provided by the social networking site to allow the user to take a certain action relative to the social networking site via the Web page;
if no feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, returning, by the server computer, the Web page for presentation to the user;
and
if at least one feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, the server computer performing:
generating modified application data that corresponds to the at least one feature of the Web page originated outside of the computing environment according to source-specific application data modification rules, the source-specific application data modification rules being specific to the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
generating a modified page utilizing the modified application data;
and
returning the modified page in place of the Web page for presentation to the user.

12 more elements

A system for feature-level controls on uncontrolled Web applications, comprising:

a server computer communicatively coupled over a network to a plurality of sources outside and independent of a computing environment, wherein the server computer having a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to monitor network traffic to and from social networking sites and to perform:
processing a request for a Web page of a social networking site having a distinct set of features, the social networking site hosted by a first source of the plurality of sources, wherein the request is associated with a user in the computing environment, and wherein the Web page comprises unstructured application data originated from the first source outside of the computing environment;
obtaining the Web page from the first source;
programmatically inspecting the Web page, wherein programmatically inspecting comprises:
examining the unstructured application data using one or more source-specific filters stored on non-transitory computer memory accessible by the server computer;
identifying each specific type of information contained in the unstructured application data corresponding to one or more features in the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
and
determining if any feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, the feature provided by the social networking site to allow the user to take a certain action relative to the social networking site via the Web page;
if no feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, returning the Web page for presentation to the user;
and
if at least one feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user:
generating modified application data that corresponds to the at least one feature of the Web page according to source-specific application data modification rules, the source-specific application data modification rules being specific to the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
generating a modified page utilizing the modified application data;
and
returning the modified page in place of the Web page for presentation to the user.

12 more elements

A computer program product for feature-level controls on uncontrolled Web applications, comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by at least one processor to monitor network traffic to and from social networking sites and to cause a server computer to perform:
processing a request for a Web page of a social networking site having a distinct set of features, wherein the request is associated with a user in a computing environment, and wherein the Web page comprises unstructured application data originated outside and independent of the computing environment;
obtaining the Web page from a network location outside of the computing environment;
programmatically inspecting the Web page, wherein programmatically inspecting comprises:
examining the unstructured application data using one or more source-specific filters stored on non-transitory computer memory accessible by the server computer;
identifying each specific type of information contained in the unstructured application data corresponding to the one or more features in the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
and
determining if any feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, the feature provided by the social networking site to allow the user to take a certain action relative to the social networking site via the Web page;
if no feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user, returning the Web page for presentation to the user;
and
if at least one feature of the Web page is to be controlled for the user:
generating modified application data that corresponds to the at least one feature of the Web page originated outside of the computing environment according to source-specific application data modification rules, the source-specific application data modification rules being specific to the distinct set of features of the social networking site;
generating a modified page utilizing the modified application data;
and
returning the modified page in place of the Web page for presentation to the user.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/785,278Filed 21 May 2010 · us provisional application
Priority: 10 Feb 2010
Granted: 30 Jun 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification14 codes

H04L 67/564
Provisioning of proxy services: enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
G06F 16/9577
Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation: optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
G06F 21/00
Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised
G06F 21/62
Protecting data: protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules