System, method and program for access control

• US 20040260821A1
• Filed: 12/16/2003
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wada, Tokuhiro, Yamamoto, Hidenobu, Yoshino, Hirofumi, Ogawa, Yukio, Saitoh, Michiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/32 containing non-Latin characters, e.g. Chinese domain names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]

Abstract

System, method and program product performed by a proxy server which forwards an access request from a client to a data server and forwards response data from the data server to the client. A first address location and an encoding format of the response data are stored. A subsequent access request from the client which includes a second address location encoded by the encoding format is received. The second address location is compared to the first address location to determine if the second address location is related to the first address location. In response to a determination that the second address location is related to the first address location, the second address location is decoded based on the encoding format. The data server can be a web server, the response data can be a web page, and the second address location can include the first address. For example, the second address location can be an extension of the first address location.

Claims

1. A proxy server which forwards an access request from a client to a data server and forwards response data from the data server to the client, said proxy server comprising:

means for storing a first address location and an encoding format of said response data;

means for receiving a subsequent access request from said client which includes a second address location encoded by said encoding format;

means for comparing said second address location to said first address location to determine if said second address location is related to said first address location; and

means, responsive to a determination that said second address location is related to said first address location, for decoding said second address location based on said encoding format.

2. The proxy server according to claim 1 wherein said data server is a web server, said response data is a web page, and said second address location includes said first address.

3. The proxy server according to claim 2 wherein said second address location is an extension of said first address location.

4. The proxy server according to claim 1 further comprising means for determining access-allowed/access-prohibited for said access request based on the decoded second address location;

and

means for transmitting said access request to said data server if said means for determining determines that access is allowed for said access request.

5. The proxy server according to claim 4 wherein said means for determining includes means for comparing the decoded second address location with a list of allowed addresses or prohibited addresses previously stored in said proxy server.

6. The proxy server according to claim 1 wherein said first address location is a location of a web page currently displayed on a client system when a user of said client system selects said second address location.

7. The proxy server according to claim 1 wherein said access request is an HTTP request, said first address location is a URL of a home page, said response data is said home page and said encoding format is an attribute value of “

charset”

of said response data.

8. A method performed by a proxy server which forwards an access request from a client to a data server and forwards response data from the data server to the client, said method comprising the steps of:

storing a first address location and an encoding format of said response data;

receiving a subsequent access request from said client which includes a second address location encoded by said encoding format;

comparing said second address location to said first address location to determine if said second address location is related to said first address location; and

in response to a determination that said second address location is related to said first address location,

decoding said second address location based on said encoding format.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein said data server is a web server, said response data is a web page, and said second address location includes said first address.

10. The method according to claim 9 wherein said second address location is an extension of said first address location.

11. The method according to claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

determining access-allowed/access-prohibited for said access request based on the decoded second address location; and

transmitting said access request to said data server if said determination is that access is allowed for said access request.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein said comparing step includes the step of comparing the decoded second address location with a list of allowed addresses or prohibited addresses previously stored in said proxy server.

13. The method according to claim 8 wherein said first address location is a location of a web page currently displayed on a client system when a user of said client system selects said second address location.

14. The method according to claim 8 wherein said access request is an HTTP request, said first address location is a URL of a home page, said response data is said home page and said encoding format is an attribute value of “

charset”

of said response data.

15. The method according to claim 8 wherein said encoding format is UTF-8, EUC, Unicode or Shift-JIS.

16. A computer program product to be installed in a proxy server which forwards an access request from a client to a data server and forwards response data from the data server to the client, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

first program instructions to store a first address location and an encoding format of said response data;

second program instructions to receive a subsequent access request from said client which includes a second address location encoded by said encoding format;

third program instructions to compare said second address location to said first address location to determine if said second address location is related to said first address location; and

fourth program instructions, responsive to a determination that said second address location is related to said first address location, to decode said second address location based on said encoding format; and

wherein

said first, second, third and fourth program instructions are recorded on said medium.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16 wherein said data server is a web server, said response data is a web page, and said second address location includes said first address.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17 wherein said second address location is an extension of said first address location.

19. The computer program product according to claim 16 further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine access-allowed/access-prohibited for said access request based on the decoded second address location; and

sixth program instructions to transmit said access request to said data server if said determination is that access is allowed for said access request; and

wherein

said fifth and sixth program instructions are recorded on said medium.

20. The computer program product according to claim 16 wherein said encoding format is UTF-8, EUC, Unicode or Shift-JIS.