System and method for identifying potential security risks in controls

• US 7,577,941 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2002
• Issued: 08/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Landauer, Lawrence G., Akhtar, Imran, Gallagher, Thomas P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAO, THUY CHAN
• Application Number:
  US10/155,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20040025043A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,645 Days
• Field of Search: 717/178, 717/126, 717/171, 726/24, 710/36
• US Class Current: 717/126
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security

Abstract

Controls of interest are indentified by determining which installed software objects associated with the application of interest exhibit certain characteristics, such as being publicly creatable, being designated as safe, and providing a security-related interface. Once the controls of interest are identified from the installed software objects, information associated with each control is obtained and stored. Each time the software program of interest is modified and re-installed, the information is updated to reflect the modifications. Additional information is also stored with the information. The information and the additional information may be provided to a browser for display and may be modified by a user to describe a present state associated with the control of interest (i.e., tested, untested).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for tracking and verifying that controls associated with a software program of interest have been tested for security concerns, comprising:

extracting as security risk information, information about controls associated with the interested software program to be installed that are installed on a computer system each time after the interested software program having software objects has been installed or updated on the computer system, the controls being a subset of the software objects;

wherein the extraction of information identifies a list of potential controls based on whether the controls present a security risk when executed;

wherein the list of potential controls does not include any controls that are associated with a different software program;

wherein the security risk information includes information associated with the controls of interest, which are identified as controls that pose a potential security risk;

wherein the identification of a list of potential controls is based on includes installing all components of the interested software program, identifying all executable files, and calling each identified executable file to locate controls hidden in all installed components of the interested software program;

identifying controls of interest from the list of potential controls;

storing the security risk information and the identified controls of interest in a database;

retrieving the security risk information upon request;

displaying the security risk information, along with additional information and the identified controls of interest, in a browser, the additional information providing a mechanism for tracking and verifying that the identified controls of interest have been tested for security concerns;

updating the additional information through the browser; and

updating the security risk information stored in the database based on the additional information updated through the browser.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a developer sign-off field that is modifiable to indicate a development status.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a tester sign-off field that is modifiable to indicate a test status.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the controls are publicly creatable.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the controls includes ActiveX controls.

6. A system for tracking and verifying that controls associated with an application of interest have been tested for security concerns, comprising:

a client computer configured to determine a list of controls of interest associated with the interested application to be installed;

identify as potential controls, controls that are not associated with another application;

identify controls of interest from the potential controls and generate security risk information associated with the controls of interest, the controls of interest being identified from installed software objects and identified at least in part from a determination of whether the controls of interest are safe;

wherein the determination of whether the controls of interest are safe depends on whether the controls of interest are a security risk when executed;

wherein the generated security risk information includes information associated with the identified controls of interest, which are controls that pose a potential security risk;

wherein identification of the potential controls is based on installing all components of the application, identifying all executable files, and calling each identified executable file to locate controls hidden in all installed components of the interested application;

a server computer configured to receive the generated security risk information from the client computer and to store the generated security risk information in a database; and

user computers configured to submit requests for security risk information of the interested application to the server computer and in response to the request to receive a rich set of security risk information about the controls that is displayed in a browser executing on the user computer, the rich set of security risk information providing a listing of controls of interest and allowing changes in the controls of interest from the identified controls of interest to be tracked and verified.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the rich set of security risk information includes a developer sign-off field that is modifiable to indicate a development status.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the rich set of security risk information includes a tester sign-off field that is modifiable to indicate a test status.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the server computer is configured to receive the security risk information over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

10. The system of claim 6, wherein requests include information requests and update requests, the information requests being sent via an HTTP GET request to obtain the rich set of security risk information and the update request being sent via an HTTP POST to update the database based on modifications to the rich set of security risk information.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the client computer is further configured to send a modify request to the server computer indicating a change in the controls and wherein the server computer is further configured to update the database based on the modify request.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the controls includes ActiveX controls.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the server computer includes the client computer.

14. A system for tracking and verifying that controls associated with a software program of interest have been tested for security concerns, comprising:

a client computer that is configured to perform actions, including;

installing a control that is associated with the interested software program;

determining whether the control is potentially unsafe based on whether the control presents a security risk when executed;

extracting as security risk information, information about controls installed on the client computer;

wherein the information is extracted each time the interested software program on the client computer are modified; and

wherein the information provides a mechanism for tracking changes and verifying testing of the controls;

wherein the extraction of security risk information identifies a list of potential controls that does not include any controls that are also associated with a different software program;

wherein the security risk information includes information associated with controls of interest and responsive to the determining whether the control is potentially unsafe based on whether the control presents a security risk when executed such that the controls of interest are identified as controls that pose a potential security risk;

wherein the identification of a list of potential controls includes installing all components of the interested software program, identifying all executable files, and calling each identified executable file to locate controls hidden in all installed components of the interested software program;

sending from the client computer the security risk information about the controls of interest; and

a server that is configured to perform actions, including;

receiving at the server from the client computer the security risk information about the identified controls of interest;

storing the security risk information about the identified controls of interest; and

sending from the server the security risk information to a requesting computer that is configured to display a list of controls of interest from the identified controls of interest.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein determining whether the control is potentially unsafe comprises determining whether the control includes an interface that may be the security risk.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the client computer is further configured to attempt to instantiate the control.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein determining whether the control is potentially unsafe comprises determining whether the control includes a safety interface.