ACCESSIBLE CONTENT REPUTATION LOOKUP

• US 20110167328A1
• Filed: 03/17/2011
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Iverson, Kristofer N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,769,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002

Abstract

Implementations of accessible content reputation lookup are described. In one implementation, before a user activates a link in a document, such as a hyperlink on a webpage, the user can designate the link. For example, the user can float a cursor over the link or interact with an icon placed proximate to the link. By designating the link, the user can request reputation information associated with the link, including information as to whether or not content associated with the link, an application used to access the content, and/or source(s) on which the content resides, are known to be dangerous or risky. If the reputation information indicates that the link is safe to activate, the user can activate the link and access the content. Alternately, if the reputation information indicates that the link is unsafe to access, the user can choose to forego activation of the link.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method operable on a processor, the method comprising:

presenting in a web page a link to accessible content;

facilitating designation, by a user, of the link to request reputation information associated with the link; and

providing the reputation information associated with the link to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting includes:

determining when the reputation information is accessible for the link; and

indicating to the user that the link is one for which reputation information can be accessed, by presenting an icon proximate the link.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating includes enabling the user to designate the link by hovering a cursor over the link.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating includes enabling the user to designate the link by hovering a cursor over an icon associated with the link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing includes querying a local cache for the reputation information.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising querying a cache on a remote device when the reputation information is not available in the local cache.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing includes reporting to the user that no reputation information can be returned when the reputation information cannot be accessed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing includes blocking activation of the link when the reputation information indicates a risk to the user in accessing the accessible content associated with the link;

and enabling the user to override the blocking.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to provide comments regarding a quality of the reputation information.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions residing thereon that, when executed, perform operations comprising:

presenting in a web page a link to accessible content;

allowing a user to designate the link without activating the link;

requesting reputation information associated with the link from a cache when the user designates the link; and

displaying the reputation information associated with the link to the user.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 having computer-readable instructions residing thereon that, when executed, perform operations further comprising:

displaying an icon proximate to the link, wherein the user can designate the link by hovering over the icon.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 having computer-readable instructions residing thereon that, when executed, perform operations further comprising:

enabling prepopulation of the cache with reputation information for the link.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 having computer-readable instructions residing thereon that, when executed, perform operations further comprising:

recommending that the user forego activation of the link when too little reputation information exists in the cache to indicate that a risk of activating the link is below an acceptable threshold.

14. A computing device, comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer-readable medium including computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising;

displaying in a web page a link to accessible content;

displaying an icon proximate to the link; and

displaying reputation information associated with the accessible content when a user interacts with the icon.

15. The computing device of claim 14, the computer-readable medium further including computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising:

enabling the user to provide comments regarding a quality of the reputation information.

16. The computing device of claim 14, further comprising a local cache, wherein the computing device attempts to retrieve the reputation information from the local cache before attempting to retrieve the reputation information from a cache residing on a remote computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 14, the computer-readable medium further including computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising:

displaying the icon differently when reputation information is available for the accessible content than when reputation information is not available for the accessible content.