Method and System to Intelligently Assess and Mitigate Security Risks on a Mobile Device

• US 20140214610A1
• Filed: 01/31/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Moshir Ventures Limited, LLC
• Original Assignee: Moshir Ventures Limited, LLC
• Inventors: Moshir, Sean, Moshir, Kevin K., Khanban, Ali A., Mashatian, Shayan
• Granted Patent: US 10,789,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing

Abstract

A method and system is provided for evaluating an application manufacturer'"'"'s credibility to produce or maintain a mobile device application. The method includes gathering information about an application manufacturer, wherein the information includes at least one of: (i) publicly available information about the manufacture; (ii) private information provided by the manufacturer; and (iii) source code information for the application developed by the manufacturer. With the computer system, the gathered information is stored in a manufacturer profile, which includes a plurality of attributes of the manufacturer. The computer system uses the manufacturer profile to calculate a score for the manufacturer, which is then used to calculate an application risk score associated with applications produced or maintained by the manufacturer. The risk score reflects, at least in part, the credibility of the manufacturer to produce or maintain the mobile device application.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating an application manufacturer'"'"'s credibility to produce or maintain a mobile device application, the method comprising:

gathering information about an application manufacturer, wherein the information includes at least one of;

publicly available information about the manufacture;

private information provided by the manufacturer; and

source code information for an application produced or maintained, or to be produced or maintained, by the manufacturer;

with a computer system, storing the gathered information in a manufacturer profile including a plurality of manufacturer attributes derived from the gathered information;

with the computer system, using the manufacturer profile to calculate a manufacturer score; and

using the manufacturer score to calculate an application risk score associated with applications produced or maintained by the manufacturer;

wherein the manufacturer score reflects the credibility of the manufacturer to produce or maintain a mobile device application; and

wherein the application risk score reflects the risk associated with mobile device application produced by the manufacturer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of using the manufacturer profile to calculate a manufacturer score includes calculating a risk score for each of the plurality of manufacturer attributes.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of calculating the manufacturer score further includes assigning a weight to each of the plurality of manufacturer attributes.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of manufacturer attributes includes two or more of:

whether the manufacturer is a fortune company;

whether the manufacturer is a public or private company;

whether the manufacturer is a corporation or an individual;

whether the manufacturer has obtained management quality standards for confirming that its management processes and practices are controlled and monitored for the best practices;

the manufacturer'"'"'s size;

the manufacturer'"'"'s number of employees;

the manufacturer'"'"'s annual revenue;

how the manufacturer is funded;

the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment;

whether the manufacturer is in a regulated industry;

the manufacturer'"'"'s geographical location;

the manufacturer'"'"'s length of time in business; and

a ranking of the manufacturer'"'"'s website.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment is selected from at least one of financial, government, health care, law enforcement, military, education and marketing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the manufacturer attributes include the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment and whether the manufacturer has obtained a certification related to its industry segment.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more of the manufacturer score and the application risk score can be overridden based on a review by an evaluating entity.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of calculating the application risk score includes associating each of the two or more manufacturer attributes to one or more categories and calculating a risk associated with each of the categories.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the calculating the application risk score includes assigning a weight to each of the categories.

10. A method for evaluating an application manufacturer'"'"'s credibility to produce or maintain a mobile device application, the method comprising:

gathering manufacturer information about an application manufacturer, wherein the information includes at least one of;

publicly available information about the manufacture;

private information provided by the manufacturer; and

source code information for an application produced or maintained, or to be produced or maintained, by the manufacturer;

gathering app information about one or more apps developed by or for the manufacturer;

with a computer system, storing the gathered manufacture information in a manufacturer profile including a plurality of manufacturer attributes derived from the gathered information;

with the computer system, using the manufacturer profile to calculate a manufacturer score; and

using the manufacturer score and the app information to calculate an application risk score associated with applications produced or maintained by the manufacturer;

wherein the manufacturer score reflects the credibility of the manufacturer to produce or maintain a mobile device application; and

wherein the application risk score reflects the risk associated with mobile device application produced by the manufacturer.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of using the manufacturer profile to calculate a manufacturer score includes calculating a risk score for each of the plurality of manufacturer attributes.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of calculating the manufacturer score further includes assigning a weight to each of the plurality of manufacturer attributes.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of manufacturer attributes includes two or more of:

whether the manufacturer is a fortune company;

whether the manufacturer is a public or private company;

whether the manufacturer is a corporation or an individual;

whether the manufacturer has obtained management quality standards for confirming that its management processes and practices are controlled and monitored for the best practices;

the manufacturer'"'"'s size;

the manufacturer'"'"'s number of employees;

the manufacturer'"'"'s annual revenue;

how the manufacturer is funded;

the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment;

whether the manufacturer is in a regulated industry;

the manufacturer'"'"'s geographical location;

the manufacturer'"'"'s length of time in business; and

a ranking of the manufacturer'"'"'s website.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment is selected from at least one of financial, government, health care, law enforcement, military, education and marketing.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the manufacturer attributes include the manufacturer'"'"'s industry segment and whether the manufacturer has obtained a certification related to its industry segment.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more of the manufacturer score and the application risk score can be overridden based on a review by an evaluating entity.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of calculating the application risk score includes associating each of the two or more manufacturer attributes to one or more categories and calculating a risk associated with each of the categories.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the calculating the application risk score includes assigning a weight to each of the categories.