APPROACHES FOR A LOCATION AWARE CLIENT

• US 20100100972A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Ravi, Lemieux, Jacques
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/305 by remotely controlling device operation
• 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 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Techniques for performing an action, based on the present location of a client, to protect resources of the client from theft or unauthorized access. A server may intermittently receive, from a client, location information such as GPS information, triangulation information based on one or more Wi-Fi access points, and IP trace information. The server may determine the client'"'"'s location by (a) determining, for an interval of time, whether GPS information, triangulation information, and IP trace information are available for the client, and (b) based on the available GPS information, triangulation information, and IP trace information, determining the present location of the client, e.g., by determining a weighted arithmetic mean or by using a sequence of types of location information ordered based on accuracy. In response to following a security policy, the server may perform an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client.

Claims

1. One or more machine-readable storage mediums that store one or more sequences of instructions for securing a client, which when executed, cause:

a server intermittently receiving, from the client, two or more of;

global positioning service (GPS) information for the client, triangulation information, for the client, based on one or more Wi-Fi access points, and IP trace information for the client;

a software component, executing on the server, determining a present location of the client by performing;

determining whether any portion of the global positioning service (GPS) information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information was received during an interval of time,

if a portion of the GPS information was received during the interval of time, then determining the present location of the client using the portion of the GPS information that was received during the interval of time,

if a portion of the triangulation information, but not any GPS information, was received during the interval of time, determining the present location of the client using the portion of the triangulation information that was received during the interval of time, and

upon no portion of either the GPS information and the triangulation information was received during the interval of time, determining the present location of the client using the IP trace information received during the interval of time; and

in response to the server following a security policy that is described by policy data stored on the server, the server performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client.

2. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the client is a laptop computer.

3. One or more machine-readable storage mediums that store one or more sequences of instructions for securing a client, which when executed, cause:

a server intermittently receiving, from the client, two or more of;

global positioning service (GPS) information for the client, triangulation information, for the client, based on one or more Wi-Fi access points, and IP trace information for the client;

a software component, executing on the server, determining a present location of the client by performing;

determining whether any portion of the global positioning service (GPS) information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information was received during an interval of time,

determining a weight associated with each portion of the GPS information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information that was received during the interval of time, and

calculating the present location of the client by determining a weighted arithmetic mean for the portions of GPS information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information that were received during the interval of time; and

in response to the server following a security policy that is described by policy data stored on the server, the server performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client.

4. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 3, wherein the client is a laptop computer.

5. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 3, wherein calculating the present location of the client further comprises (a) assessing the accuracy of the portion of the GPS information, the portion of the triangulation information, and the portion of the IP trace information when calculating the present location, and (b) updating the weight associated with an least one of the portion of the GPS information, the portion of the triangulation information, and the portion of the IP trace information to reflect the accuracy associated therewith.

6. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 3, wherein the software component further considers what computer networks the client can access when determining the present location of the client.

7. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 3, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

the software component causing the generation of display data which, when rendered, depicts the present location of the client on a map.

8. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 7, when the map, when displayed, depicts:

(a) the portion of the GPS information that was received during the interval of time, (b) the portion of the triangulation information that was received during the interval of time, and (c) the portion of the IP trace information that was received during the interval of time.

9. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 7, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

the server intermittently receiving, from the client, webcam shot data, wherein the webcam shot data is data that, when rendered on a display, depicts a picture or video of an operator of the client at a particular location, and

wherein the map depicts, or makes available, the webcam shot data associated with one or more locations on the map.

10. The one or more machine-readable storage mediums of claim 3, wherein determining the present location of the client using the IP trace information comprises determining whether the client is being used as an IP proxy by correlating a list of hops, through which data packets travel from the client to the server, with a public IP address for the client.

11. One or more machine-readable storage mediums that store one or more sequences of instructions for securing a client, which when executed, cause:

a software component, executing on the client, determining a present location of the client using GPS information provided by a GPS service provided by the client; and

in response to the client following a security policy that is described by policy data stored in the BIOS of the client, the software component performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client,

wherein the policy data is communicated to the client from a server, and wherein a user of the client cannot change the policy data.

12. A machine-implemented method for securing a client, comprising:

a server intermittently receiving, from the client, two or more of;

global positioning service (GPS) information for the client, triangulation information, for the client, based on one or more Wi-Fi access points, and IP trace information for the client;

a software component, executing on the server, determining a present location of the client by performing;

determining whether any portion of the global positioning service (GPS) information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information was received during an interval of time,

if a portion of the GPS information was received during the interval of time, then determining the present location of the client using the portion of the GPS information that was received during the interval of time,

if a portion of the triangulation information, but not any GPS information, was received during the interval of time, determining the present location of the client using the portion of the triangulation information that was received during the interval of time, and

upon no portion of either the GPS information and the triangulation information was received during the interval of time, determining the present location of the client using the IP trace information received during the interval of time; and

in response to the server following a security policy that is described by policy data stored on the server, the server performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client.

13. The machine-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the client is a laptop computer.

14. A machine-implemented method for securing a client, comprising:

a server intermittently receiving, from the client, two or more of;

global positioning service (GPS) information for the client, triangulation information, for the client, based on one or more Wi-Fi access points, and IP trace information for the client;

a software component, executing on the server, determining a present location of the client by performing;

determining whether any portion of the global positioning service (GPS) information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information was received during an interval of time,

determining a weight associated with each portion of the GPS information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information that was received during the interval of time, and

calculating the present location of the client by determining a weighted arithmetic mean for the portions of GPS information, the triangulation information, and the IP trace information that were received during the interval of time; and

in response to the server following a security policy that is described by policy data stored on the server, the server performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client.

15. The machine-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the client is a laptop computer.

16. The machine-implemented method of claim 14, wherein calculating the present location of the client further comprises (a) assessing the accuracy of the portion of the GPS information, the portion of the triangulation information, and the portion of the IP trace information when calculating the present location, and (b) updating the weight associated with an least one of the portion of the GPS information, the portion of the triangulation information, and the portion of the IP trace information to reflect the accuracy associated therewith.

17. The machine-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the software component further considers what computer networks the client can access when determining the present location of the client.

18. The machine-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

the software component causing the generation of display data which, when rendered, depicts the present location of the client on a map.

19. The machine-implemented method of claim 18, when the map, when displayed, depicts:

(a) the portion of the GPS information that was received during the interval of time, (b) the portion of the triangulation information that was received during the interval of time, and (c) the portion of the IP trace information that was received during the interval of time.

20. The machine-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

the server intermittently receiving, from the client, webcam shot data, wherein the webcam shot data is data that, when rendered on a display, depicts a picture or video of an operator of the client at a particular location, and

wherein the map depicts, or makes available, the webcam shot data associated with one or more locations on the map.

21. The machine-implemented method of claim 14, wherein determining the present location of the client using the IP trace information comprises determining whether the client is being used as an IP proxy by correlating a list of hops, through which data packets travel from the client to the server, with a public IP address for the client.

22. A machine-implemented method for securing a client, comprising:

a software component, executing on the client, determining a present location of the client using GPS information provided by a GPS service provided by the client; and

in response to the client following a security policy that is described by policy data stored in the BIOS of the client, the software component performing an action, specified by the security policy, based on the present location of the client,

wherein the policy data is communicated to the client from a server, and wherein a user of the client cannot change the policy data.