Protecting client-side code

• US 20080071884A1
• Filed: 09/15/2006
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Barry, David William, Heithcock, Jeffery Gordon
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/14 against software analysis or reverse engineering, e.g. by obfuscation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4484 Executing subprograms

Abstract

Protecting client-side code is disclosed. In some embodiments, when a request for a page is received from a client, an initial definition of the page is provided to the client wherein the initial definition includes a reference to a piece of client-side code not included in the initial definition and a code retrieval logic which, when executed at the client, results in the piece of client-side code being obtained dynamically from an associated server at runtime when the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed at the client. A client receives such an initial definition of a requested page from an associated server of the page. When an indication that the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed is received, the code retrieval logic is executed to obtain the piece of client-side code dynamically from the associated server.

Claims

1. A method for protecting client-side code associated with a page, comprising:

receiving from a client a request for the page; and

providing to the client an initial definition associated with the page, the initial definition including a reference to a piece of client-side code not included in the initial definition and a code retrieval logic which, when executed at the client, results in the piece of client-side code being obtained dynamically from an associated server at runtime when the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed at the client.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the code retrieval logic includes invoking a dedicated function associated with obtaining from the server one or more pieces of client-side code associated with the page.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function comprises a global function used to obtain any client-side code including the piece of client-side code.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function is invoked with respect to an object with respect to which the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function includes one or more of the following arguments:

an identifier associated with the piece of client-side code, an object type with respect to which the dedicated function is invoked, and one or more input parameters associated with the piece of client-side code.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the identifier comprises a function name.

7. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function obtains the piece of client-side code from the server.

8. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function obtains the piece of client-side code from memory or storage at the client if the piece of client-side code already exists at the client.

9. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the dedicated function comprises a “

do function”

in JavaScript.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the code retrieval logic includes a call to a function or method with which the piece of client-side code is associated, such that an error is generated when the function or method is called and the associated piece of client-side code is determined to not be available.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the piece of client-side code is obtained from the server in response to the generation of the error.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising configuring the client to obtain the piece of client-side code from the server in response to the generation of the error.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein configuring the client to obtain the piece of client-side code from the server in response to the generation of the error comprises providing custom exception handling logic.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the code retrieval logic includes custom exception handling logic configured to obtain the piece of client-side code.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the code retrieval logic causes the client to obtain the piece of client-side code from the server if an exception associated with the piece of client-side code is thrown.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the exception is thrown if the piece of client-side code does not already exist at the client and the piece of client-side code is attempted to be invoked at the client by one or more of the following:

a stub associated with the piece of client-side code, a function associated with the piece of client-side code, a dedicated function associated with invoking the piece of client-side code, and a dedicated function associated with an object with respect to which the piece of client-side code is to be invoked.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the initial definition of the page comprises one or more of a user interface and an associated script.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the initial definition of the page comprises a shell of the page.

19. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the reference comprises one or more of a stub, a function call, and a function call to a dedicated function.

20. A method for protecting client-side code associated with a page, comprising:

receiving a definition of the page which definition includes a reference to a piece of client-side code not included in the definition and logic configured to retrieve the piece of client-side code from an associated server at runtime when the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed;

receiving an indication that the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed; and

executing the logic to obtain the piece of client-side code dynamically from the associated server.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, further comprising receiving the piece of client-side code from the associated server and executing the piece of client-side code.

22. A system for protecting client-side code associated with a page, comprising:

a processor associated with a server and configured to;

receive from a client a request for the page; and

provide to the client an initial definition associated with the page, the initial definition including a reference to a piece of client-side code not included in the initial definition and a code retrieval logic which, when executed at the client, results in the piece of client-side code being obtained dynamically from the associated server at runtime when the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed at the client; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide instructions to the processor.

23. A system as recited in claim 22, wherein the code retrieval logic includes invoking a dedicated function associated with obtaining from the server one or more pieces of client-side code associated with the page.

24. A system as recited in claim 23, wherein the dedicated function comprises a global function used to obtain any client-side code including the piece of client-side code.

25. A system as recited in claim 22, wherein the code retrieval logic includes a call to a function or method with which the piece of client-side code is associated, such that an error is generated when the function or method is called and the associated piece of client-side code is determined to not be available.

26. A system as recited in claim 25, wherein the piece of client-side code is obtained from the server in response to the generation of the error.

27. A system as recited in claim 22, wherein the code retrieval logic includes custom exception handling logic configured to obtain the piece of client-side code.

28. A system as recited in claim 27, wherein the code retrieval logic causes the client to obtain the piece of client-side code from the server if an exception associated with the piece of client-side code is thrown.

29. A system as recited in claim 22, wherein the reference comprises one or more of a stub, a function call, and a function call to a dedicated function.

30. A computer program product for protecting client-side code associated with a page, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving from a client a request for the page; and

providing to the client an initial definition associated with the page, the initial definition including a reference to a piece of client-side code not included in the initial definition and a code retrieval logic which, when executed at the client, results in the piece of client-side code being obtained dynamically from an associated server at runtime when the piece of client-side code is desired to be executed at the client.