MANAGED CLONE APPLICATIONS

• US 20160094538A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirWatch LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AirWatch LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dabbiere, Alan, Stuntebeck, Erich Peter, Tse, Kar Fai
• Granted Patent: US 9,785,425 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• 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 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments relating to managed clones of applications. In one embodiment, an application is received. If it is determined that the application should be managed, a managed clone of the application is generated. The managed clone of the application is configured for coexistence along with the application upon a client device under management. The managed clone of the application may then be deployed to the client device under management.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, comprising:

code that receives an application, the application being publicly available via an application distribution environment;

code that generates a managed clone of the application by at least;

generating a different package name for the managed clone of the application, the different package name differing from an original package name of the application;

adding a management wrapper to the application to enforce a restriction; and

repackaging the application to use the different package name; and

code that deploys the managed clone of the application to a managed client device.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code that generates the managed clone of the application further comprises:

code that generates a different database name for the managed clone of the application, the different database name differing from an original database name of the application, wherein the application is repackaged to use the different database name; and

code that generates a different account name for the managed clone of the application, the different account name differing from an original account name of the application, wherein the application is repackaged to use the different account name.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the code that generates the managed clone of the application further comprises:

code that modifies a manifest file of the application; and

code that modifies binary code of the application.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code that determines whether to create the managed clone of the application based at least in part on application usage data associated with a plurality of users in an organization.

5. A client device configured to at least:

determine that use of a managed clone of an application is required, wherein the managed clone of the application is configured to coexist with the application on the client device;

disable use of the application in response to determining that use of the managed clone of the application is required; and

enable use of the managed clone of the application in lieu of the application, wherein the managed clone of the application is configured to enforce a restriction on use of a feature of the managed clone of the application.

6. The client device of claim 5, being further configured to at least:

receive a user selection of an application icon; and

determine whether to launch the application or the managed clone of the application based at least in part on a type of the user selection.

7. The client device of claim 5, wherein the managed clone of the application is configured to remove application data in response to receiving a remote wipe instruction.

8. The client device of claim 5, wherein the managed clone of the application is configured to exclude a feature of the application.

9. The client device of claim 5, wherein determining that use of the managed clone of the application is required further comprises determining that the client device is located within a geofence.

10. A method, comprising:

determining, by at least one computing device, that an application should be managed; and

generating, by the at least one computing device, a managed clone of the application in response to determining that the application should be managed, the managed clone of the application being configured for coexistence along with the application upon a client device under management.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the application should be managed further comprises determining that the application should be managed based at least in part on evaluating a compliance rule using at least one of:

state information associated with the client device, a feature of the application, or an identification of data accessed by the application.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving the application using the at least one computing device.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising deploying the managed clone of the application to the client device under management.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises:

generating, by the at least one computing device, a different package name for the application, the different package name differing from an original package name of the application; and

repackaging, by the at least one computing device, the application using the different package name.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein generating the different package name for the application further comprises concatenating, by the at least one computing device, the original package name of the application with another string.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises:

generating, by the at least one computing device, a different database name for the application, the different database name differing from an original database name of the application; and

configuring, by the at least one computing device, the managed clone of the application to use the different database name.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises:

generating, by the at least one computing device, a different account name for the application, the different account name differing from an original account name of the application; and

configuring, by the at least one computing device, the managed clone of the application to use the different account name.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises modifying, by the at least one computing device, a manifest file of the application.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises modifying, by the at least one computing device, binary code of the application.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the managed clone of the application further comprises modifying, by the at least one computing device, an icon of the application to include a badge.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the managed clone of the application is modified to encrypt a storage database on the client device.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein the managed clone of the application is modified to enable a single-sign-on with an enterprise credential.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein the managed clone of the application is modified to enforce a time-based restriction.