AUTHENTICATING USERS BASED UPON AN IDENTITY FOOTPRINT

• US 20150058961A1
• Filed: 10/13/2014
• Published: 02/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: SOREK, Noam
• Granted Patent: US 9,160,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of generating a user signature associated with a user and authenticating a user. At least one behavior associated with at least one sensor in a computing device is identified. A timestamp is generated and associated with the behavior. A user signature corresponding to a user based at least in part upon the behavior and the timestamp is generated and stored.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one sensor configured to determine at least one of a position or movement of the system; and

circuitry in communication with the at least one sensor configured to;

identify at least one behavior associated with the at least one sensor;

generate at least one timestamp associated with the at least one behavior, the at least one timestamp being associated with a time of day;

generate a user signature corresponding to a user based at least in part upon the at least one behavior and the at least one timestamp; and

store the user signature in a memory accessible to the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor comprises an accelerometer, and the circuitry further configured to:

identify an acceleration of the system from periodic data retrieved from the accelerometer; and

associate the acceleration with the timestamp.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chipset, and circuitry further configured to:

identify a location of the system from the GNSS chipset; and

associate the position with the timestamp.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises an accelerometer and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chipset, and the circuitry is further configured to:

identify a velocity associated with sensor data obtained from at least one of the accelerometer and the GNSS chipset; and

associate the velocity with the timestamp.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a wireless network interface and the circuitry identifying the at least one behavior is further configured to:

identify at least one network to which the wireless network interface is within communication range; and

associate the at least one network with the timestamp.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a network interface and the circuitry further identifying the at least one behavior further being configured to:

identify at least one network to which the wireless network interface is connected; and

associate the at least one network with the timestamp.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

track a plurality of behaviors associated with the at least one sensor and a time period;

obtain a request to authenticate the user;

determine whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature; and

authenticate the user when the plurality of behaviors correspond during the time period correspond to the user signature.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry that determines whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature is further configured to determine whether a first velocity of the system at a time within the time period corresponds to a second velocity associated with a timestamp corresponding to the time corresponds with the first velocity.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry that determines whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature is further configured to determine whether a first location of the system at a time within the time period corresponds to a second location associated with a timestamp corresponding to the time corresponds with the first location.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry that determines whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature is further configured to determine whether a first network in communication range of the system at a time within the time period corresponds to a second network in communication range of the system associated with a timestamp corresponding to the time corresponds with the first network.

11. A method, comprising:

identifying, in at least one circuit, at least one behavior associated with at least one sensor in a computing device in communication with the at least one circuit;

generating, in the at least one circuit, at least one timestamp associated with the at least one behavior, the at least one timestamp being associated with a time of day;

generating, in the at least one circuit, a user signature corresponding to a user based at least in part upon the at least one behavior and the at least one timestamp; and

storing the user signature in a memory in communication with the at least one circuit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor comprises an accelerometer, and identifying the at least one behavior further comprises:

identifying, in the at least one circuit, an acceleration associated with periodic data retrieved the accelerometer; and

associating, in the at least one circuit, the acceleration with the timestamp.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chipset, and identifying the at least one behavior further comprises:

identifying, in the at least one circuit, a location of the system from the GNSS chipset; and

associating, in the at least one circuit, the position with the timestamp.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises an accelerometer and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chipset, and identifying the at least one behavior further comprises:

identifying, in the at least one circuit, a velocity associated with sensor data obtained from at least one of the accelerometer and the GNSS chipset; and

associating, in the at least one circuit, the velocity with the timestamp.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a network interface, and identifying the at least one behavior further comprises:

identifying, in the at least one circuit, at least one network to which the wireless network interface is within communication range; and

associating, in the at least one circuit, the at least one network with the timestamp.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor further comprises a network interface, the method further comprising:

identifying, in the at least one circuit, at least one network to which the wireless network interface is connected; and

associating, in the at least one circuit, the at least one network with the timestamp.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

tracking, in the at least one circuit, a plurality of behaviors associated with the at least one sensor and a time period;

obtaining, in the at least one circuit, a request to authenticate the user;

determining, in the at least one circuit, whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature; and

authenticating, in the at least one circuit, the user when the plurality of behaviors correspond during the time period correspond to the user signature.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature further comprises determining whether a first velocity a time within the time period corresponds to a second velocity associated with a timestamp corresponding to the time corresponds with the first velocity.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining whether the plurality of behaviors over the time period correspond to the user signature further comprises determining whether a first location at a time within the time period corresponds to a second location associated with a timestamp corresponding to the time corresponds with the first location.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a software program executable in a computing device, the software program configured to:

identify a behavior associated with at least one sensor in the computing device, the behavior being at least one of a velocity, a location, an acceleration, or a network with which the computing device is communicating;

generate a associated with the behavior, the timestamp being associated with a time of day extracted from a clock associated with the computing device;

generate a user signature corresponding to a user based at least in part upon the behavior and the timestamp; and

store the user signature in the memory accessible to the computing device.