System, method, and computer program product for preventing image-related data loss

• US 10,489,606 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2015
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Inventors: Basavapatna, Prasanna Ganapathi, Chebiyyam, Gopi Krishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Herzog, Madhuri R
• Application Number:
  US14/968,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20160171242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,443 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for preventing data loss associated with an image. In use, an image is identified, and it is determined whether the image includes predetermined data. In addition, an action is performed based on the determination, for preventing data loss.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations comprising:

extract textual data from an image;

determine whether the image includes confidential information by determining whether a fingerprint of at least a portion of the textual data matches predetermined data, wherein the predetermined data is associated with the confidential information; and

prevent loss of the confidential information from a network, wherein the operations further comprise;

receive, from a sender device, a request to upload the image from the network to a remote network;

upload the image from a sender device to a gateway in the network based on the request;

based on determining that the image includes the confidential information;

deny, by the gateway, the request to upload the image from the network to the remote network; and

based on determining that the image lacks the confidential information;

transmit, from the gateway to the sender device, data indicating that the image lacks the confidential information, and

enable, at the sender device, a user control operable to upload the image from the network to the remote network.

2. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint of the at least the portion of the textual data comprises a hash of the at least the portion of the textual data.

3. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint of the at least the portion of the textual data comprises a hash of all of the textual data.

4. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

quarantine the image based on determining that the image includes the confidential information.

5. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein extracting the textual data from the image comprises performing an optical character recognition (OCR) procedure on the image.

6. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein extracting the textual data from the image comprises performing an intelligent character recognition (ICR) procedure on the image.

7. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein extracting the textual data from the image is performed utilizing at least one neural network.

8. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the image is a screenshot.

9. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identify the image based on communication of the image over a network.

10. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identify the image based on a request to communicate the image.

11. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identify the image during a system scan.

12. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the image is included as an attachment in an electronic mail message.

13. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise at least one of:

notify an administrator;

notify a management team;

notify a sender of the image; and

notify a recipient of the image.

14. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the image includes confidential information is performed at one or more of the gateway, a mail server, a web server, and a file transfer protocol server.

15. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

allow communication of the image based on a determination that the image does not include the confidential information.

18. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the operations corresponding to the system scan comprise:

scan memory on one or more devices in the network for images, and

identify the image from the images based on a file format; and

wherein the operations further comprise;

prevent deletion of the image from the memory on the one or more devices based on determining that the image includes the confidential information.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

extracting textual data from an image;

determining whether the image includes confidential information by determining whether a fingerprint of at least a portion of the textual data matches predetermined data, wherein the predetermined data is associated with the confidential information; and

preventing loss of the confidential information from a network, wherein the preventing comprises;

receiving, from a sender device, a request to upload the image from the network to a remote network;

uploading the image from a sender device to a gateway in the network based on the request;

based on determining that the image includes the confidential information;

denying, by the gateway, the request to upload of the image from the network to the remote network; and

based on determining that the image lacks the confidential information;

transmitting, from the gateway to the sender device, data indicating that the image lacks the confidential information, and

enabling, at the sender device, a user control operable to upload the image from the network to the remote network.

17. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor;

wherein the system is configured for;

extracting textual data from an image;

determining whether the image includes confidential information by determining whether a fingerprint of at least a portion of the textual data matches predetermined data, wherein the predetermined data is associated with the confidential information; and

preventing loss of the confidential information from a network, wherein the preventing comprises;

receiving, from a sender device, a request to upload the image from the network to a remote network;

uploading the image from a sender device to a gateway in the network based on the request;

based on determining that the image includes the confidential information;

denying, by the gateway, the request to upload of the image from the network to the remote network; and

based on determining that the image lacks the confidential information;

transmitting, from the gateway to the sender device, data indicating that the image lacks the confidential information, and

enabling, at the sender device, a user control to upload the image from the network to the remote network.