Web content defacement protection system

• US 8,145,908 B1
• Filed: 02/17/2005
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Liu, Zaide "Edward", Cinquini, Maurice Johnny
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Su, Sarah
• Application Number:
  US11/062,203
• Time in Patent Office: 2,595 Days
• Field of Search: 713/176, 713/155, 713/170, 707/204, 709/203, 709/217, 705/75
• US Class Current: 713/176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• 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

Abstract

A method and mechanism for protecting a website against defacement are provided. A content owner may associate content with a digital signature. The digital signature allows a recipient of the content to verify that the content originated from the content owner, and that the content has not been defaced. The digital signature may be comprised within the content, or stored external to the content, e.g., in a repository accessible to a Web cache server serving the content. To construct the digital signature, initially, the content owner creates a content validity value for a portion of content, the content validity value is encrypted to create the digital signature. The Web cache server may use the digital signature to determine whether the content has been defaced.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method for Web content defacement protection, comprising:

receiving Web content from an origin server at a Web cache server in a content delivery network (CDN) operated by a content delivery network service provider on behalf of a content owner who uses the CDN to serve said Web content from the origin server to requesting clients, wherein said Web content is associated with a digital signature;

decoding the digital signature at the Web cache server to obtain a supplied content validity value, wherein said supplied content validity value is associated with at least one portion of said Web content;

computing a determined content validity value for said at least one portion of said Web content;

determining whether said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same;

storing said Web content in a cache local to the Web cache server when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same, the cache local to the Web cache server storing a plurality of content associated with a plurality of content owners using the CDN to serve the plurality of content to requesting clients;

in response to receiving a request for said Web content from a requesting client, retrieving said Web content from said cache local to the Web cache server, and delivering, by the Web cache server, said retrieved Web content to the requesting client;

taking an action other than storing said Web content in the cache local to the Web cache server for delivery to requesting clients, when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different;

wherein the content delivery network service provider receives information from the content owner that configures the action to be taken when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said Web content is partitioned into a plurality of portions, and wherein each portion is associated with a unique digital signature.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by the Web cache server, a new version of said Web content from another origin server upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delivering, by the Web cache server, a saved valid version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delivering, by the Web cache server, a saved older version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delivering, by the Web cache server, any of (i) a content provider'"'"'s default Web page and (ii) a security announcement page, to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising restoring the origin server'"'"'s Web content from the cache local to the Web cache server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

informing an administrator that said Web content is corrupted upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different; and

wherein said step of informing the administrator comprises performing any of the following acts;

sending an email to the administrator, paging the administrator, displaying a message on a user interface accessible to the administrator, transmitting a voice-mail to the administrator, issuing a SNMP trap, or calling the administrator.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a first key, and wherein said step of decoding said digital signature further comprises:

decoding said digital signature using a second, different key associated with said origin server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a secret shared key, and wherein said step of decoding said digital signature further comprises:

decoding said digital signature using said secret shared key associated with said origin server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said digital signature is incorporated in said Web content.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said Web content is any of:

a Web page, a plain text document, an image, an audio file, or a video file.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving said Web content from the origin server at the Web cache server:

receiving a request from the requesting client for said Web content at the Web cache server in the CDN; and

requesting the Web content from the origin server upon determining that the Web content cannot be found in the cache local to the Web cache server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one portion comprises all of said Web content.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the supplied content validity value and the determined content validity value comprises a message digest of said at least one portion of said Web content.

16. An apparatus for Web content defacement protection, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, will cause the apparatus to perform the steps of;

receiving Web content from an origin server at a Web cache server in a content delivery network (CDN) operated by a content delivery network service provider on behalf of a content owner who uses the CDN to serve said Web content from the origin server to requesting clients, wherein said Web content is associated with at least one digital signature;

decoding the at least one digital signature at the Web cache server to obtain a supplied content validity value, wherein said supplied content validity value is associated with at least one portion of said Web content;

computing a determined content validity value for said at least one portion of said Web content;

determining whether said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same;

storing said Web content in a cache local to the Web cache server when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same, the cache local to the Web cache server storing a plurality of content associated with a plurality of content owners and used for delivery by the Web cache server to requesting clients;

retrieving said Web content from said cache local to the Web cache server in response to the Web cache server receiving a request for said Web content from a client;

delivering said retrieved Web content to the client

taking an action other than storing said Web content in the cache local to the Web cache server for delivery to requesting clients, when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different;

wherein the content delivery network service provider receives information from the content owner that configures the action to be taken when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said Web content is partitioned into a plurality of portions, and wherein each portion is associated with a unique digital signature.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

request a new version of said Web content from another origin server upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

deliver a saved valid version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

deliver a saved older version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

deliver any of (i) a content provider'"'"'s default Web page and (ii) a security announcement page, to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the origin server is configured to restore lost or damaged Web content onto the origin server from backup copies of Web content stored in the cache local to the Web cache server.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said apparatus comprises a router, Web proxy, or Web intermediary.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

inform an administrator that said Web content is corrupted upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different; and

perform any of the following acts;

sending an email to the administrator, paging the administrator, displaying a message on a user interface accessible to the administrator, transmitting a voice-mail to the administrator, issuing a SNMP trap, or calling the administrator.

25. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a first key, and wherein said step of decoding said digital signature further comprises:

decoding said digital signature using a second, different key associated with said origin server.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a secret shared key, and wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

decode said digital signature using said secret shared key associated with said origin server.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said digital signature is incorporated in said Web content.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said Web content is any of:

a Web page, a plain text document, an image, an audio file, or a video file.

29. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein upon execution the stored instructions further will cause the apparatus to:

receive a request from the requesting client for said Web content at the Web cache server in the CDN; and

request the Web content from the origin server upon determining that the Web content cannot be found in the cache local to the Web cache server.

30. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one portion comprises all of the Web content.

31. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one of the supplied content validity value and the determined content validity value comprises a message digest of said at least one portion of said Web content.

32. A non-transitory machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for performing Web content defacement protection, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving Web content from an origin server at a Web cache server in a content delivery network (CDN) operated by a content delivery network service provider on behalf of a content owner who uses the CDN to serve said Web content from the origin server to requesting clients, wherein said Web content is associated with at least one digital signature;

decoding the at least one digital signature at the Web cache server to obtain a supplied content validity value, wherein said supplied content validity value is associated with at least one portion of said Web content and;

computing a determined content validity value for said at least one portion of said Web content;

determining whether said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same;

storing said Web content in a cache local to the Web cache server when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are the same, the cache local to the Web cache server storing a plurality of content associated with a plurality of content owners and used for delivery by the Web cache server to requesting clients;

in response to receiving a request for said Web content from a requesting client, retrieving said Web content from the cache local to the Web cache server;

delivering by the Web cache server said retrieved Web content to the requesting client;

taking an action other than storing said Web content in the cache local to the Web cache server for delivery to requesting clients, when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different;

wherein the content delivery network service provider receives information from the content owner that configures the action to be taken when said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

33. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said Web content is partitioned into a plurality of portions, and wherein each portion is associated with a unique digital signature.

34. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

requesting, by the Web cache server, a new version of said Web content from another origin server upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

35. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

delivering, by the Web cache server, a saved valid version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

36. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

delivering, by the Web cache server, a saved older version of said Web content stored at the Web cache server to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

37. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

delivering, by the Web cache server, any of (i) a content provider'"'"'s default Web page and (ii) a security announcement page, to a requesting client upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different.

38. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

restoring lost or damaged Web content onto the origin server from backup copies of Web content stored in the cache local to the Web cache server.

39. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of:

informing an administrator that said Web content is corrupted upon determining that said supplied content validity value and said determined content validity value are different; and

wherein said step of informing the administrator comprises performing any of the following acts;

sending an email to the administrator, paging the administrator, displaying a message on a user interface accessible to the administrator, transmitting a voice-mail to the administrator, issuing a SNMP trap, or calling the administrator.

40. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a first key, and wherein said step of decoding said digital signature further comprises:

decoding said digital signature using a second, different key associated with said origin server.

41. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said digital signature is encoded using a secret shared key, and wherein said step of decoding said digital signature further comprises:

decoding said digital signature using said secret shared key associated with said origin server.

42. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said digital signature is incorporated in said Web content.

43. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said Web content comprises any of:

a Web page, a plain text document, an image, an audio file, or a video file.

44. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32 wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform, prior to receiving the Web content from the origin server at the Web Cache server in the CDN, the steps of:

receiving a request from the requesting client for said Web content at the Web cache server; and

requesting the Web content from the origin server upon determining that the Web content cannot be found in the cache local to the Web cache server.

45. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the at least one portion comprises all of the Web content.

46. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein at least one of the supplied content validity value and the determined content validity value comprises a message digest of said at least one portion of said Web content.