VISUAL DISPLAY OF WEBSITE TRUSTWORTHINESS TO A USER

• US 20100100958A1
• Filed: 10/20/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: JEREMIAH, Garreth
• Granted Patent: US 9,038,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Website trustworthiness is automatically displayed to a user by pre-establishing a user-defined good list identifying one or more known good website addresses. Each known good website address in the user-defined good list has associated therewith at least one user-defined visual characteristics for display. Subsequently, responsive to the user selecting to visit a website address identified in the user-defined good list, the website is displayed for the user and the user-defined visual characteristics associated therewith from the user-defined good list are also concurrently displayed with the website. The user-defined visual characteristics provide the user with a visual indication of website trustworthiness concurrently with display of the website.

Claims

1. A method of displaying website trustworthiness to a user, the method comprising:

establishing a user-defined good list identifying at least one known good website address, each known good website address in the user-defined good list having associated therewith at least one user-defined visual characteristic for display; and

responsive to the user selecting to visit a website address identified in the user-defined good list, displaying the website for the user and concurrently displaying the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated therewith from the user-defined good list, wherein the at least one user-defined visual characteristic provides a customized visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each user-defined visual characteristic of the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated with a known good website address in the user-defined good list comprises a user-defined text, a user-defined graphic or a user-selected border color for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the website address associated therewith in the user-defined good list.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically intercepting a user-selected website address and, responsive thereto, determining whether the user-selected website address is identified in the user-defined good list, and if so, performing the displaying and the concurrently displaying, otherwise performing only the displaying of the website for the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing further comprises obtaining at least one of a predefined bad list of website addresses or a user-defined bad list of at least one user-known bad website address, each website address in the predefined bad list of website addresses having associated therewith a default visual characteristic for display when that website address is selected by the user for display, and each user-known bad website address in the user-defined bad list having associated therewith a user-defined visual characteristic for concurrent display with the website when that website is selected by the user for display.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising automatically intercepting a user-selected website address and determining whether the user-selected website address is a known bad website address by comparing the user-selected website address against one or more website addresses in at least one of the predefined bad list of website addresses or the user-defined bad list, and if identified within either list, displaying the website for the user and concurrently displaying the default visual characteristic associated therewith from the predefined bad list or the user-defined visual characteristic associated therewith from the user-defined bad list, depending on the list within which the user-selected website address is identified.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing comprises selecting a website address from a predefined good list of website addresses and associating with the selected website address at least one user-defined visual characteristic for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the selected website address.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the establishing further comprises determining whether the selected website address from the predefined good list of website addresses is in a user-defined bad list of at least one user-known bad website address, and if so, determining whether the website address should be removed from the user-defined bad list, and if removed from the user-defined bad list, then proceeding to associate therewith the at least one user-defined visual characteristic for display, wherein the associating comprises selecting a color from green and blue components of a red green blue (RGB) display for use in a border region of the display when the website page addressed by that website address is displayed, and defining at least one of a user-defined text or a user-defined graphic for display within the border region of the display when the website page addressed by that website address is displayed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing comprises entering a user-identified website address, and indicating whether the website address is a good website address, and, if indicated as a good website address, selecting a color from the green and blue components of a red green blue (RGB) display for use in a border region of the display with display of the website page addressed by that website address, and defining at least one user-defined text or at least one user-defined graphic for inclusion in the border region to customize the visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user, and automatically validating the website address as a good website address, and once validated, adding the website address to the user-defined good list.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein if the user-identified website is indicated as a bad website address, then associating the color red from the red green blue (RGB) display for use in the border region of the display when the website page addressed by that website address is displayed, and adding the user-identified website address to a user-defined bad list identifying user-known bad website addresses.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein automatically validating the user-identified website address comprises verifying a certificate trust with the user-identified website address, and validating that redirection from the website address remains within the domain or within a parent-owning domain within two or more top level domains of the user-identified website address, and displaying the website for user acceptance of the website address as a known-good website address prior to adding the user-identified website address to the user-defined good list.

11. A method of deploying website trustworthiness logic on one or more processing units, the method comprising:

installing website trustworthiness logic on at least one processing unit, the website trustworthiness logic facilitating;

establishing a user-defined good list identifying at least one known good website address, each known good website address in the user-defined good list having associated therewith at least one user-defined visual characteristic for display; and

responsive to the user selecting to visit a website address identified in the user-defined good list, displaying the website for the user and concurrently displaying the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated therewith from the user-defined good list, wherein the at least one user-defined visual characteristic provides a customized visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user.

12. A system for displaying website trustworthiness to a user, the system comprising:

a display;

at least one processing unit coupled to the display, the at least one processing unit to;

establish a user-defined good list identifying at least one known good website address, each known good website address in the user-defined good list having associated therewith at least one user-defined visual characteristic for display; and

responsive to the user selecting to visit a website address identified in the user-defined good list, display the website for the user and concurrently display the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated therewith from the user-defined good list, wherein the at least one user-defined visual characteristic provides a visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each user-defined visual characteristic of the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated with a known good website address in the user-defined good list comprises a user-defined text, a user-defined graphic or a user-selected border color for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the website address associated therewith in the user-defined good list.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processing unit intercepts a user-selected website address and, responsive thereto, determines whether the user-selected website address is identified in the user-defined good list, and if so, performs the displaying and the concurrently displaying, otherwise performs only the displaying of the website for the user.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the establishing comprises selecting a website address from a predefined good list of website addresses and associating with the selected website address at least one user-defined visual characteristic for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the selected website address, wherein each user-defined visual characteristic of the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated with the selected website address comprises a user-defined text, a user-defined graphic or a user-selected border color for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the selected website address, and saving the selected website address in the user-defined good list along with the associated at least one user-defined visual characteristic.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the establishing comprises entering a user-identified good website address and selecting a color from the green and blue components of a red green blue (RGB) display for use in a border region of the display with display of the website page addressed by that website address, and defining at least one user-defined text or at least one user-defined graphic for inclusion in the border region to customize the visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user, and automatically validating the website address as a good website address, and once validated, adding the website address to the user-defined good list.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein automatically validating the user-identified good website address comprises verifying a certificate trust with the user-identified good website address, and validating that redirection from the website address remains within the domain or within a parent-owning domain within two or more top level domains of the user-identified good website address, and displaying the website for user acceptance of the website address as a known-good website address prior to adding the user-identified good website address to the user-defined good list.

18. An article of manufacture comprising:

at least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code logic to facilitate displaying website trustworthiness to a user, the computer-readable program code logic when executing on at least one processing unit performing the following;

establishing a user-defined good list identifying at least one known good website address, each known good website address in the user-defined good list having associated therewith at least one user-defined visual characteristic for display; and

responsive to the user selecting to visit a website address identified in the user-defined good list, displaying the website for the user and concurrently displaying the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated therewith from the user-defined good list, wherein the at least one user-defined visual characteristic provides a customized visual indication of website trustworthiness to the user.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein each user-defined visual characteristic of the at least one user-defined visual characteristic associated with a known good website address in the user-defined good list comprises a user-defined text, a user-defined graphic or a user-selected border color for concurrent display with display of the website page addressed by the website address associated therewith in the user-defined good list.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable program code logic when executing on the at least one processing unit further comprises logic to perform automatically intercepting of a user-selected website address and, responsive thereto, to determine whether the user-selected website address is identified in the user-defined good list, and if so, performing the displaying and the concurrently displaying, otherwise performing only the displaying of the website for the user.