Method and apparatus to enable confidential browser referrals

• US 8,156,228 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Hernacki, Brian, Satish, Sourabh
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US11/864,348
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

A method of facilitating a blind referral comprising producing a referral communication for referring a client computer from a connection with a first server to a second server, wherein the referral communication comprises first server information defining a location of the first server, generating a placeholder for the first server information in the referral communication, and replacing the first server information with the placeholder in communications with the second server during the referral communication.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a blind referral, comprising:

producing a referral communication for referring a client computer from a connection with a first server to a second server, wherein the referral communication comprises first server information defining a location of the first server, wherein the referral communication refers the client computer to the second server to authenticate at least one of an identity, a source of funds, or an age of a user;

generating a placeholder for the first server information in the referral communication, wherein the placeholder comprises at least one of a hash value, a client computer identification, a service identification, a proxy server, or a random alphanumeric character string, and wherein the random alphanumeric character string comprises a set of dummy characters or a dummy address; and

replacing the first server information with the placeholder in communications with the second server during the referral communication to prevent the second server from learning an identity of the first server such that the second server receives the placeholder instead of the first server information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of replacing further comprises replacing the first server information with the placeholder in the referral communication upon redirection from the first server to the second server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising mapping the placeholder to the first server information to produce mapping information.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising

extracting the placeholder from the referral communication upon redirection of the client computer from the second server to the first server;

determining the first server information mapped to the placeholder using the mapping information; and

replacing the placeholder with the first server information to enable redirection from the second server to the first server.

5. A method of facilitating a blind referral, comprising:

producing an HTTP referral communication for referring a client computer from a first server to a second server, wherein the referral communication comprises a first server tag, wherein the HTTP referral communication enables redirection of the client computer to the second server to perform at least one of authenticating at least one of an identity, a source of funds, or an age of a user;

generating a placeholder tag, wherein the placeholder tag comprises at least one of a hash value, a client name, a security service, a proxy server, or a random alphanumeric, and wherein the random alphanumeric comprises a set of dummy characters or a dummy address;

replacing the first server tag in a header of an HTTP referral communication with the placeholder tag upon redirection of the client computer from the first server to the second server communication to prevent the second server from learning an identity of the first server such that the second server receives the placeholder instead of the first server information;

upon redirection of the client computer from the second server to the first server, mapping the placeholder tag to the first server tag to produce mapping information;

determining the first server tag that maps to the placeholder tag using the mapping information; and

replacing the placeholder tag in the header of the HTTP referral communication with the first server tag upon redirection from the second server to the first server.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising

extracting the placeholder tag from the HTTP referral communication upon redirection from the second server to the first server.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising

verifying the placeholder tag for the second server using a security service coupled to the second server.

8. An apparatus for facilitating a blind referral, comprising:

a client computer, configured to be redirected using a referral communication from communicating with a first server to communicating with a second server, wherein the client computer comprises a blind referral module for generating a placeholder for a first server information in the referral communication and replacing the first server information in the referral communication with the placeholder upon redirection from the first server to the second server communication to prevent the second server from learning an identity of the first server such that the second server receives the placeholder instead of the first server information, wherein the placeholder comprises at least one of a hash value, a client computer identification, a service identification, a proxy server, or a random alphanumeric character string, and wherein the random alphanumeric character string comprises a set of dummy characters or a dummy address.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising

mapping information comprising the placeholder mapped to the first server information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the blind referral module determines the first server information mapped to the placeholder using the mapping information and, upon the client computer being redirected from the second server to the first server, substitutes the placeholder in the referral communication with the first server information.