Minimum Lifespan Credentials for Crawling Data Repositories

• US 20070283425A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Krishnaprasad, Muralidhar, Krishnamurthy, Vishu, Krishnamurthy, Sriram, TURE, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,875,249 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0846 using time-dependent-passwords, e.g. periodically changing passwords

Abstract

A flexible and extensible architecture allows for secure searching across an enterprise. Such an architecture can provide a simple Internet-like search experience to users searching secure content inside (and outside) the enterprise. The architecture allows for the crawling and searching of a variety or sources across an enterprise, regardless of whether any of these sources conform to a conventional user role model. The architecture further allows for security attributes to be submitted at query time, for example, in order to provide real-time secure access to enterprise resources. The user query also can be transformed to provide for dynamic querying that provides for a more current result list than can be obtained for static queries.

Claims

1. A method of minimizing storage time for security credentials for a secure crawl, comprising:

receiving a selection of a temporary password option for a secure source;

initiating a crawl of the secure source;

in response to initiating the crawl, examining metadata for the secure source to determine whether the temporary password option is selected;

prompting for security credentials when the temporary password option is selected;

writing the security credentials to temporary storage; and

deleting the security credentials from temporary storage when no longer needed for the crawl.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes performing a callback at the end of the crawl.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials from resident memory at the end of the crawl.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials for any interruption of the crawl.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials at system restart.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

retaining the security credentials until a final crawl when multiple crawls are initiated that utilize the security credentials.

7. A method of minimizing storage time for security credentials for a secure crawl, comprising:

receiving a selection of a temporary password option for a user of a secure source;

in response to the initiation of a crawl on the secure source, prompting the user for security credentials;

writing the security credentials to temporary storage;

using the security credentials as needed for the crawl of the secure source; and

deleting the security credentials from temporary storage when no longer needed for the crawl.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes performing a callback at the end of the crawl.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials from resident memory at the end of the crawl.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials for any interruption of the crawl.

11. A method according to claim 7, wherein:

deleting the security credentials includes deleting the security credentials at system restart.

12. A method according to claim 7, further comprising:

retaining the security credentials for the user until a final crawl when multiple crawls are initiated that utilize the security credentials.

13. A computer program product embedded in a computer-readable medium for minimizing storage time for security credentials for a secure crawl, comprising:

program code for receiving a selection of a temporary password option for a secure source;

program code for initiating a crawl of the secure source;

program code for examining metadata for the secure source to determine whether the temporary password option is selected in response to initiating the crawl;

program code for prompting for security credentials when the temporary password option is selected;

program code for writing the security credentials to temporary storage; and

program code for deleting the security credentials from temporary storage when no longer needed for the crawl.

14. A computer program product according to claim 13, wherein:

program code for deleting the security credentials includes program code for performing a callback at the end of the crawl.

15. A computer program product according to claim 13, wherein:

program code for deleting the security credentials includes program code for deleting the security credentials from resident memory at the end of the crawl.

16. A computer program product according to claim 13, wherein:

program code for deleting the security credentials includes program code for deleting the security credentials for any interruption of the crawl.

17. A computer program product according to claim 13, wherein:

program code for deleting the security credentials includes program code for deleting the security credentials at system restart.

18. A computer program product according to claim 13, further comprising:

program code for retaining the security credentials until a final crawl when multiple crawls are initiated that utilize the security credentials.

19. A computer program product embedded in a computer-readable medium for minimizing storage time for security credentials for a secure crawl, comprising

program code for receiving a selection of a temporary password option for a user of a secure source;

program code for prompting the user for security credentials in response to the initiation of a crawl on the secure source;

program code for writing the security credentials to temporary storage;

program code for using the security credentials as needed for the crawl of the secure source; and

program code for deleting the security credentials from temporary storage when no longer needed for the crawl.

20. A computer program product according to claim 19, further comprising:

program code for retaining the security credentials for the user until a final crawl when multiple crawls are initiated that utilize the security credentials.