Protecting users from malicious pop-up advertisements

• US 7,962,955 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Gang, Langford, John S., Boss, Gregory J., Hamilton, Rick A. II
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani; Taghi T
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, JASON T
• Application Number:
  US11/464,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20080046975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,764 Days
• Field of Search: 715/808, 715/809, 715/781, 715/700, 713/152, 726/22, 726/4
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow

Abstract

The present invention is a solution for detecting a spoofed command button in a pop-up window. The solution tracks the creation process of a pop-up window, detects the presence of command buttons in the pop-up window, verifies the value labeled on each command button in the pop-up window and determines a follow-up action generated from selecting a command button on the pop-up window.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a spoofed command button comprising:

tracking a creation process for a pop-up window;

detecting a command button created in the pop-up window;

comparing an assigned value of the command button with a value assigned to at least one of a valid “

No”

or a valid “

Cancel”

button;

determining a follow-up action generated on selection of the command button;

verifying that the follow-up action generated closes the pop-up window; and

alerting a user that the pop-up window poses a potential danger when the follow-up action from selecting the command button includes an action other than closing the pop-up window.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the detecting includes performing a background source code validation.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising alerting a user to proceed with caution when the assigned value of the command button restricts user selection.

4. A method for detecting a spoofed command button comprising:

validating a closing action of a command button of a pop-up window against a web browser Application Program Interface (API) for closing a window, wherein the validating detects an anomaly when the command button does not call on the web browser API; and

alerting a user in response to detecting the anomaly that a follow-up action generated in response to selecting the command button fails to communicate with the web browser API; and

closing the pop-up window in response to detecting the anomaly.

5. A system comprising:

at least one computing device configured for detecting a spoofed command button, comprising;

a component for tracking a creation process for a pop-up window;

a component for detecting creation of a command button in the pop-up window;

a component for comparing an assigned value of the command button with a value assigned to at least one of a valid “

No”

or a valid “

Cancel”

button;

a component for determining a follow-up action generated on selection of the command button;

a component for verifying that the follow-up action generated closes the pop-up window; and

a component for alerting a user that the pop-up window poses a potential danger when the follow-up action performs an action other than closing the pop-up window.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the component for detecting performs a background source code validation.

7. The system of claim 5 further comprising a component for alerting the user to proceed with caution when the assigned value of the command button restricts user selection.

8. The system of claim 5 further comprising

a component for validating the pop-up window against a web browser Application Program Interface (API) for closing a window;

a component for alerting the user on detecting the follow-up action generated by the user on selecting the command button omits communicating with the web browser API; and

a component for closing the pop-up window.

9. A computer program stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, for detecting a spoofed command button, the computer program including program code for:

tracking a creation process for a pop-up window;

detecting a command button created in the pop-up window;

comparing an assigned value of the command button with a value assigned to at least one of a valid “

No”

or a valid “

Cancel”

button;

determining a follow-up action generated on selection of the command button;

program code for verifying that the follow-up action generated closes the pop-up window; and

program code for alerting the user that the pop-up window poses a potential danger when the follow-up action for selecting a command button includes an action other than closing the pop-up window.

10. The computer program of claim 9 further including program code for:

validating a closing action of the pop-up window against a web browser Application Program Interface (API) for closing a window;

alerting a user on detecting that the follow-up action generated by the user on selecting the command button fails to communicate with the web browser API; and

closing of the pop-up window.

11. The computer program of claim 9 further including program code for performing a background source code validation when the command button is detected.

12. The computer program of claim 9 further including program code for alerting the user to proceed with caution when the assigned value of the command button restricts user selection.

13. A method for deploying an application for detecting a spoofed command button, the method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

track a pop-up window creation process;

detect a command button created in the pop-up window;

compare an assigned value of the command button with a value assigned to at least one of a valid “

No”

or a valid “

Cancel”

button;

determine a follow-up action generated on selection of the command button;

verify that the follow-up action generated closes the pop-up window; and

alert a user that the pop-up window poses a potential danger when the follow-up action from selecting the command button includes an action other than closing the pop-up window.