SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PERFORMING ONE OR MORE MAINTENANCE TASKS ON A REMOTELY LOCATED COMPUTER CONNECTED TO A SERVER COMPUTER VIA A DATA NETWORK

• US 20140317763A1
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Published: 10/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: Babu Katchapalayam, Chandrasekar Balasubramaniam, Ravi Kannan, Siddaraya Basappa Revashetti, Srivats Sampath
• Inventors: BALASUBRAMANIAM, CHANDRASEKAR, KANNAN, RAVI, REVASHETTI, SIDDARAYA BASAPPA, SAMPATH, SRIVATS, KATCHAPALAYAM, BABU
• Granted Patent: US 10,182,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and computer executable program code are disclosed for performing one or more maintenance tasks on a remotely located computer connected to a server computer via a data network.

Claims

1. A method to verify software downloaded to a client computer over a computer network, the method comprising the steps of:

ascertaining that the software is a copy from an authorized provider of the software; and

if so,

enabling the copy of the software to be executed on the client computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the ascertaining step further comprising the step of comparing an electronic signature with the copy of software to determine that the signature is related to the software.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the ascertaining step comprises the step of querying a browser program on the client computer to determine if it is pointed to an authorized web site.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of querying comprises the step of invoking at least one of a plurality of methods provided by the browser program to determine if the browser program is pointed at in authorized web site.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of querying comprises the steps of

invoking at least two of a plurality of methods provided by the browser program to determine if it is pointed to an authorized web site;

and

comparing the results obtained by the methods that are invoked.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of querying comprises the step of invoking at least one method provided by the browser program to obtain information located in a top-level browser window.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of querying comprises the step of invoking at least one method provided by the browser program to obtain information located in an opener browser window.

8. Computer executable program code stored on a computer readable medium to implement the method of claim 1.

9. Computer executable program code stored on a computer readable medium, comprising:

code to read a first URL to which a browser is pointed; and

code to enable execution of a downloaded software program if the first URL is an authorized URL.

10. A method for performing one or more maintenance tasks on a remotely located computer connected to a server computer via a data network, said method comprising:

communicating with the remotely located computer to form a logical connection with the server computer;

delivering a software package to the remotely located computer across said logical connection, said software package being encapsulated within a markup language communication unit deliverable across said logical connection, said software package comprising scripts for performing one or more tasks on the remotely located computer; and

executing the scripts of said software package via a network browser for performing said one or more tasks on the remotely located computer via the network browser.

11. The method of claim 10, said operation of communicating including a registering operation, said registering operation comprising:

downloading a web page located on the server computer using the network browser;

entering an identifier and a secure password on said web page; and

selecting an option presented on the web page to send the identifier and password to the server computer;

wherein said operation of delivering said software package is enabled only if a user has provided a valid identifier and password.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

creating a transaction log on the server computer; and

recording information related to said operations of registering and delivering in the said transaction log.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating a periodic activity report for the remotely located computer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting an electronic message in an e-mail format from the server computer to the remotely located computer indicating that a new product or a new application is available for download.

15. The method of claim 14, said logical connection with the server computer being a secure network connection.

16. The method of claim 15, said script-based maintenance software package including a program to detect computer viruses on the remotely located computer.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

before or during registering the remotely located computer, creating an account for a user of the remotely located computer on the server computer; and

identifying said identifier and password as valid if the user has a current subscription or a positive fund balance in said user account.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting payment information from the remotely located computer to the server computer in an electronic mail message format, wherein said account may reflect a current subscription or an increased fund balance upon receipt of said payment information.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating an electronic receipt on the server computer; and

transmitting the receipt to the remotely located computer.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein said one or more tasks comprise at least one of the following:

compression of software, compression of data, search for software that needs to be upgraded, search for data that needs to be upgraded, upgrade of software, upgrade of data, search for obsolete software, search for obsolete data, deletion of obsolete software, deletion of obsolete data, archival of software, archival of data, hardware diagnostics, and software diagnostics.