System and method for ensuring compliance with organizational policies

• US 10,726,126 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2015
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kacherov, Vadim, Dare, Robert M., Watson, Gregory Paul, Goel, Parag
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Tae K
• Application Number:
  US14/841,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371491A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,793 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A method for ensuring compliance with organizational policies is described herein. The method can include the step of monitoring one or more parameters of a managed computing device for compliance with one or more policies of an organization in which the organizational policies may include limitations on the managed computing device. The method can also include the step of detecting a non-conformance event at the managed computing device with respect to at least one organizational policy. In response to the detection of the non-conformance event, the operation of the managed computing device may be restricted with respect to features or data associated with the organization.

Claims

1. A method for ensuring compliance with organizational policies, comprising the following computer-implemented steps:

monitoring one or more parameters of a managed computing device for compliance with one or more of the organizational policies, wherein the one or more of the organizational policies include at least one limitation on the managed computing device which is set by an organization;

detecting a non-conformance event at the managed computing device with respect to the at least one limitation included in the one or more of the organizational policies based on the monitoring result;

based on detecting the non-conformance event, identifying a severity level which is previously assigned to the non-conformance event;

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a first level, restricting operation regarding only at least one first application which is associated with the organization installed in the managed computing device among a plurality of applications installed in the managed computing device prior to occurrence of the non-conformance event without restricting operation regarding remaining applications which are not associated with the organization and are associated with a user of the managed computing device other than the at least one first application among the plurality of applications; and

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a second level, providing a message for notifying the non-conformance event to the user of the managed computing device without restricting operation regarding the at least one first application.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein restricting the operation of the at least one first application further comprises:

restricting the operation of the at least one first application by locking an entirety of applications associated with the organization or at least some of the applications associated with the organization;

removing wireless communication settings or credentials from the managed computing device;

removing network settings or credentials from the managed computing device;

removing a proxy configuration from the managed computing device;

removing an email or messaging configuration from the managed computing device;

or

disabling device configuration updates from the managed computing device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message for notifying the non-conformance event includes information related to how to take corrective action and consequences if no action is taken.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more of the organizational policies include one or more of the following:

password creation rules compliance;

blacklisted application compliance;

installation of default applications or bundle compliance;

data roaming compliance;

system modification compliance;

or

administrator control compliance.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the non-conformance event comprises one or more of the following:

creating an unauthorized password;

downloading an unauthorized application;

failing to install one or more default applications or bundles;

roaming on an unauthorized network;

modifying the managed computing device in an unauthorized manner;

or

blocking administrator control of the managed computing device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more of the organizational policies are applied to a plurality of managed computing devices related to a group of employees who are related by job functions within the organization.

7. A method for ensuring compliance with employer policies, comprising the following computer-implemented steps:

setting one or more of organizational policies related to an employer, wherein the one or more organizational policies include at least one limitation which is set by an organization on a managed computing device;

receiving a report of a non-conformance event from the managed computing device, wherein the non-conformance event is an event with respect to the at least one limitation included in the one or more of the organizational policies;

based on receiving the report of the non-conformance event, identifying a severity level which is previously assigned to the non-conformance event;

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a first level, controlling the managed computing device to restrict operation regarding only at least one application associated with the organization installed in the managed computing device among a plurality of applications installed in the managed computing device prior to occurrence of the non-conformance event without restricting operation regarding remaining applications which are not associated with the organization and are associated with a user of the managed computing device other than the at least one application among the plurality of applications; and

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a second level, providing a message to the managed computing device for notifying the non-conformance event to the user of the managed computing device without restricting operation regarding the at least one application.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising waiting a predetermined time prior to controlling the managed computing device to restrict the operation regarding the at least one application.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising assigning the severity level to the non-conformance event on an automatic basis.

10. A managed computing device, comprising:

a display configured to at least display messages;

a communication module configured to receive communication signals from and transmit communication signals to another device; and

a processor, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to the communication module and the display and is configured to;

monitor one or more parameters of the managed computing device for compliance with one or more of organizational policies, wherein the one or more organizational policies include at least one limitation which is set by an organization on the managed computing device,

detect a non-conformance event at the managed computing device with respect to the at least one limitation included in the one or more of the organizational policies,

based on detecting the non-conformance event, identify a severity level which is previously assigned to the non-conformance event,

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a first level, restrict operation regarding only at least one application associated with the organization installed in the managed computing device among a plurality of applications installed in the managed computing device prior to occurrence of the non-conformance event without restricting operation regarding remaining applications which are not associated with the organization and are associated with a user of the managed computing device other than the at least one application among the plurality of applications, and

based on the identified previously assigned severity level being a second level, provide a message for notifying the non-conformance event to the user of the managed computing device without restricting operation regarding the at least one application.

11. The managed computing device according to claim 10,

wherein the processor is further configured to restrict the operation regarding the at least one application by removing a proxy configuration from the managed computing device such that the managed computing device is prevented from accessing a protected environment, and

wherein a first operation of the communication module is not affected by the removal of the proxy configuration.

12. The managed computing device according to claim 10, wherein the non-conformance event comprises one or more of the following:

creating an unauthorized password;

downloading an unauthorized application;

failing to install one or more default applications or bundles;

roaming on an unauthorized network;

modifying the managed computing device in an unauthorized manner;

or

blocking administrator control of the managed computing device.

13. The managed computing device according to claim 10, wherein the managed computing device is owned by the user of the managed computing device and has been previously modified to enable the user to access confidential information of the organization.