Method and system for scanning a computer system for sensitive content

• US 20100333199A1
• Filed: 06/25/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: McIIrath, Jeffry, Leonard, Kara, Yuan, Wangji, Gianoulakis, George P., LePenske, Eric John, Kaplan, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,898,774 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for scanning a computer system for sensitive data. A scan manager manages a scan of files of a second computer. The scan manager receives a request to scan and identify files stored on the second computer based on at least one category of sensitive data. The scan manager receives scan report recipient information and generates a user profile based on the at least one category and the recipient information. The scan manager makes the user profile available to a category server for use in creating a scan profile defining the scan criteria and deploys a scan agent to a computer to conduct the scan based on the scan profile. When the scan is complete and upon creation of the scan report, the scan manager makes the scan report available to the intended recipients.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing a scan of a computer for sensitive data, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

providing a first computer comprising a computer-readable medium and a scan manager module;

receiving at the first computer a request to scan a second computer and identify files stored on the second computer based on at least one category of sensitive information;

receiving at the first computer recipient information comprising information identifying intended recipients of a scan report containing results of the scan; and

using the scan manager module to respond to the request to scan by;

generating a user profile based on the at least one category of sensitive information and the recipient information;

making the user profile available to a category server for use in creating a scan profile defining scan criteria;

deploying a scan agent to the second computer to conduct the scan of the files of the second computer, the scan conducted based on the scan profile; and

when the scan is complete, making a scan report generated by the category server available to the intended recipients based on the recipient information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,

wherein the scan manager further comprises a user interface;

and

wherein the at least one category and the recipient information is inputted by a user into the user interface.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the user profile in at least one database embodied on a second computer-readable medium.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein deploying the scan agent further comprises the steps of

receiving at the first computer a message from the category server that the scan profile is complete;

prompting a user to download the scan agent to the second computer; and

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of, when the scanning is complete, causing the category server to generate the scan report.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein making the scan report available to the intended recipients further comprises the steps of:

receiving at the first computer a request from a category web service, wherein the request comprises the scan report and a list of the intended recipients of the scan report;

retrieving the list of the intended recipients from the request; and

sending the scan report to the intended recipients.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein sending the scan report to the intended recipients further comprises the steps of:

creating a communication comprising the scan report; and

mailing the communication to the intended recipients.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein creating the communication further comprises the steps of:

establishing a body of a communication; and

attaching the scan report to the body of the communication.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using the scan manager for sending an error notification to at least one selected recipient.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein sending an error notification further comprises the steps of:

receiving at the first computer error information and a request to mail the error notification to the at least one selected recipient; and

creating the error notification based on the error information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the error information comprises an identification of at least one of the following:

a first scan state indicating continued installation of the scan agent;

or

a second scan state indicating continued pendency of the scan.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein sending the error notification further comprises the step of creating error notifications in batch form.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the at least one database is enabled using a structured query language.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the scan manager module is further configured to perform the step of initiating generation of the scan report.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of authenticating an identity of the user.

16. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one category comprises at least one of the following categories of sensitive data:

a mandatory category to be scanned or an optional category to be scanned.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the scan manager module is further configured to perform the step of displaying a scan history of a user.

18. The computer-implemented method according to claim 9, wherein sending an error notification comprises at least one of the following steps:

sending from the first computer a pending scan error notification of a scan in progress for more than a selected time frame;

or

sending from the first computer a scan agent error notification for a scan for which an associated scan result has been returned but for which an associated scan agent has not been removed.

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the scan manager module is further configured to perform the step of cancelling the scan.

20. A computer program product, comprising a computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, said computer-readable program code comprising instructions adapted to be executed to implement a method for managing a scan of a computer system for sensitive data, comprising the steps of:

providing a first computer comprising a computer-readable medium and a scan manager module;

receiving at the first computer a request to scan a second computer and identify files stored on the second computer based on at least one category of sensitive information;

receiving at the first computer recipient information comprising information identifying intended recipients of a scan report containing results of the scan;

using the scan manager module to respond to the request to scan by;

generating a user profile based on the at least one category of sensitive information and the recipient information;

making the user profile available to a category server for use in creating a scan profile defining scan criteria;

deploying a scan agent to the second computer to conduct the scan of the files of the second computer, the scan conducted based on the scan profile; and

when the scan is complete, making a scan report generated by the category server available to the intended recipients.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein said method further comprise the steps of storing the user profile in at least one database embodied on a second computer-readable medium.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein deploying the scan agent further comprises the steps of

receiving at the first computer a message from the category server that the scan profile is complete;

prompting a user to download the scan agent to the second computer; and

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein making the scan report available further comprises the steps up:

receiving at the first computer a request from a category web service, wherein the request comprises the scan report and a list of the intended recipients of the scan report; and

retrieving the list of the intended recipients from the request; and

sending the scan report to the intended recipients.

24. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein said method further comprises the step of sending an error notification to at least one selected recipient.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein sending the error notification further comprises the steps of:

receiving at the first computer error information and a request to mail the error notification to the at least one selected recipient; and

creating the error notification based on the error information.

26. A system for managing a scan of a computer system for sensitive data, said system comprising:

a first computer comprising a scan manager; and

a computer-readable medium storing data and instructions;

wherein the scan manager is configured to access the computer-readable medium for data and instructions and, when executing the instructions, to perform the computer-implemented steps on the first computer for managing the scan of files of a second computer, and

wherein said first computer is adapted to;

receive a request to scan the second computer and identify files stored on the second computer based on at least one category of sensitive information; and

receive at the first computer recipient information comprising information identifying intended recipients of a scan report containing results of the scan; and

wherein said scan manager is adapted to;

generate a user profile based on the at least one category of sensitive information and the recipient information;

send the user profile to a category server for use in creating a scan profile defining scan criteria;

deploy a scan agent to the second computer to conduct the scan of the files of the second computer, the scan conducted based on the scan profile; and

when the scan is complete, make a scan report generated by the category server available to the intended recipients.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said system further comprises at least one database;

and wherein the scan manager is further adapted to store the user profile in the at least one database embodied on a second computer-readable medium.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the scan manager is adapted to deploy the scan agent by:

receiving at the first computer a message from the category server that the scan profile is complete;

prompting a user to download the scan agent to the second computer; and

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the scan manager is adapted to make the scan report available by:

receiving at the first computer a request from a category web service, wherein the request comprises the scan report and a list of the intended recipients of the scan report; and

retrieving the list of the intended recipients from the request; and

sending the scan report to the intended recipients.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein said scan manager is further adapted to send an error notification to at least one selected recipient.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the scan manager is adapted to send the error notifications by:

receiving at the first computer error information and a request to mail the error notification to the at least one selected recipient; and

creating the error notification based on the error information.