Website content regulation

• US 20100017880A1
• Filed: 07/16/2009
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Finjan Holdings, Inc. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: F-Secure Oyj
• Inventors: Masood, Syed Ghouse
• Granted Patent: US 8,474,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer

Abstract

A method of facilitating the scanning of web pages for suspect and/or malicious hyperlinks that includes receiving at a content hosting website, user generated content. A web page or web page containing said content is then generated and, in the web page source code is included a detection code segment or a link from which a detection code segment can be downloaded. The detection code segment is executable by a web browser or web browser plug-in to scan the web page(s), or cause the web page(s) to be scanned, for suspect and/or malicious links.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating the scanning of web pages for suspect and/or malicious hyperlinks and comprising:

receiving at a content hosting website, user generated content;

generating a web page or web pages containing said content; and

including in the web page source code, a detection code segment or a link from which a detection code segment can be downloaded,

said detection code segment being executable by a web browser or web browser plug-in to scan the web page(s), or cause the web page(s) to be scanned, for suspect and/or malicious links.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said web page source code is HTML or WML source code.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said detection code segment comprises a scripting language that can be interpreted by the web browser or web browser plug-in.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the scripting language is one of:

Java, JavaScript, VBScript or ActionScript.

5. A method according to claim 1 and comprising receiving and updating said detection code segment from a third party website.

6. A method according to claim 1 and comprising incorporating said detection code segment into the source code of a web page template and using the template to generate said web page(s) containing the received user generated content.

7. A computer arranged in use to be coupled to the Internet and being configured to:

receive user generated content submitted over the Internet;

generate a web page or web pages containing said content; and

include in the web page source code, a detection code segment or a link from which a detection code segment can be downloaded,

said detection code segment being executable by a web browser or web browser plug-in to scan the web page(s), or cause the web page(s) to be scanned, for suspect and/or malicious links.

8. A method of identifying suspect and/or malicious hyperlinks in a web page downloaded to a client terminal, the method comprising:

at the client terminal, identifying hyperlinks within the web page source code;

inspecting a database of suspect and/or malicious URLs to determine whether any identified hyperlinks contain suspect and/or malicious URLs; and

if it is determined that an identified hyperlink does contain a suspect and/or malicious URLs, modifying the webpage in accordance with a defined policy;

wherein the web page source code contains a detection code segment and the client terminal executes the code segment to cause the recited steps to be performed.

9. A method according to claim 8 and comprising downloading the detection code segment to the client terminal from a URL identified in the web page source code.

10. A method according to claim 8 and comprising executing the detection code segment within a web browser or web browser plug-in.

11. A method according to claim 8, the recited steps being performed by one of a browser extension or Browser Object Helper.

12. A method according to any one of claim 8, the recited steps being performed prior to the web page being displayed at the client terminal.

13. A method according to claim 8, said step of inspecting a database comprising sending URLs of any identified hyperlinks to a remote verification resource, and receiving back from the resource, at the client terminal, an indication of whether or not any identified hyperlinks contain suspect and/or malicious URLs.

14. A method according to claim 8, said step of inspecting a database comprising inspecting a database maintained locally at the client terminal.

15. A method according to claim 8, said step of inspecting a database causing a safety rating to be returned for identified suspect and/or malicious links.

16. A method according to claim 15, said step of modifying the webpage in accordance with a defined policy comprising modifying the webpage in dependence upon the returned safety rating(s).

17. A method according to claim 8, said step of modifying the webpage comprising one or more of:

deleting or inactivating a hyperlink, replacing the hyperlink with a predefined hyperlink, adding a comment to a hyperlink, and modifying a hyperlink to link initially to a safety warning.

18. A method according to claim 8 and comprising, upon detection of a suspect and/or malicious link at the client terminal, sending an alert identifying the link to the website from which the web page(s) containing the link was downloaded.

19. A computer program for running on a computer within an Internet browser environment to cause the computer to:

identify hyperlinks within a web page source code;

extract from the web page source code a detection code segment or a link from which a detection code segment can be downloaded;

inspect a database of suspect and/or malicious URLs to determine whether any identified hyperlinks contain suspect and/or malicious URLs; and

if it is determined that an identified hyperlink does contain a suspect and/or malicious

URLs, to modify the webpage in accordance with a defined policy;

wherein the computer is arranged to execute the detection code segment to perform the above recited steps.

20. A computer configured to receive user generated content, to generate a web page or web pages containing said content, and to include in the web page source code, a detection code segment or a link from which a detection code segment can be downloaded, said detection code segment being executable by a web browser or web browser plug-in to scan the web page(s), or cause the web page(s) to be scanned, for suspect and/or malicious links.