Contextual Alert Of An Invasion Of A Computer System

• US 20100083378A1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheswick, William Roberts
• Granted Patent: US 8,255,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/562 Static detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing contextual feedback to a user of a computer system upon detection of an invasion of the computer system are provided herein. An invasion of the computer system is detected and a contextually appropriate alert is selected from a set of alerts. The alert is played immediately upon detection of the invasion so that the user is alerted to the invasion within close temporal proximity to the user'"'"'s action that resulted in the invasion of the computer system. In addition, details of the invasion are logged to a diagnostic log file for later use by support personnel in repairing the computer system.

Claims

1. A method for providing contextual, audible feedback of an invasion of a computer system, comprising:

detecting the invasion of the computer system;

selecting an alert tone from a plurality of alert tones based on a context of the invasion;

immediately playing the alert tone to alert of the invasion; and

logging information regarding the context of the invasion to a log file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of alert tones comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the invasion comprises a type of the invasion and a severity of the invasion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the alert tone is further based upon user preferences of the computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer system comprises detecting a change to one or more of a program file, a data file, and a configuration setting of the computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of alert tones comprises alert tones provided with the computer system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of alert tones further comprises alert tones provided by a user of the computer system.

8. A system for providing contextual, audible feedback of an invasion of a computer system, comprising:

a plurality of alert tones stored on the computer system, each of the plurality of alert tones comprising a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to a context of an invasion of the computer system; and

a detection module operative to;

detect the invasion of the computer system,

select an alert tone from the plurality of alert tones based on the context of the invasion, and

immediately play the alert tone to alert of the invasion.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the context of the invasion comprises a type of the invasion and a severity of the invasion.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection of the alert tone is further based upon user preferences of the computer system.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer system comprises detecting a change to one or more of a program file, a data file, and a configuration setting of the computer system.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the detection module is further operative to log information regarding the context of the invasion to a log file.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of alert tones comprises alert tones provided with the computer system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of alert tones further comprises recordings of natural utterances recorded by a user of the computer system.

15. A computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

detect an unexpected or unauthorized change in a system configuration of the computer;

select an alert from a plurality of alerts based on a type and a severity of the unexpected or unauthorized change in the system configuration, each of the plurality of alerts representing a contextual response that inherently indicates to a user the type and the severity of the unexpected or unauthorized change in the system configuration;

immediately play the alert to alert of the unexpected or unauthorized change in the system configuration; and

log information regarding the unexpected or unauthorized change in the system configuration to a log file.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the selection of the alert is further based upon user preferences stored on the computer.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein one of the plurality of alerts comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance contextually related to the type and the severity of the unexpected or unauthorized change in the system configuration of the computer.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the digital recording is provided by a user of the computer

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein one of the plurality of alerts comprises an emission of fake smoke from the computer.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein one of the plurality of alerts comprises an emission of an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit.