Policy enforcement in a secure data file delivery system

• US 8,196,183 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2004
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axway Incorporated (Axway Software SA)
• Original Assignee: Axway Incorporated (Axway Software SA)
• Inventors: Smith, Jeffrey C., Bandini, Jean-Christophe
• Primary Examiner(s): Orgad, Edan
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHMIDT, KARI L
• Application Number:
  US10/790,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20040193915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,018 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1- 5, 726/11, 726/13, 726/14, 726/21, 726/22, 726/26, 709/225, 709/202, 709/206, 709/207, 709/223, 709/229, 713/151, 713/152, 713/154, 713/156, 713/188, 705/59
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A server interacts with a sender to form a package which can include one or more attached data files to be sent to one or more recipients, and the server applies a policy established by a policy authority of the sender to the package. Since the sever both forms the package through interaction with the sender and applies the policy, any violations of the policy by the package can be brought to the sender'"'"'s attention during an interactive session with the sender and before encryption of all or part of the package. As a result, the sender is educated regarding the policy of the sender'"'"'s policy authority, and the sender can modify the package immediately to comport with the policy. The server delivers the package to the one or more intended recipients by sending notification to each recipient and including in such notification package identification data, e.g., a URL by which the package can be retrieved. The policy of the policy authority can be specified as a list of associations between one or more conditions and one or more actions to be carried out upon satisfaction of the associated conditions.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium being non-transitory and including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to assure adherence to a policy by a package to be delivered from a sender associated with an enterprise to one or more recipients through a computer network by:

responsive to receipt of package data which is generated by the sender and which specifies the package, applying a policy to the package wherein the policy is specified by policy data received from a policy authority of the sender, the policy authority including a rule base associated with the sender enterprise;

determining whether the policy permits delivery of the package; and

upon a condition in which the policy permits delivery of the package, delivering the package by;

sending notification to the recipients wherein the notification includes package identification data; and

responsive to receipt of the package identification data from a particular one of the recipients, providing the particular recipient with access to the package.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the policy applying comprises:

determining that the package satisfies one or more conditions; and

if the package satisfies the one or more conditions, performing one or more actions which are associated with the one or more conditions.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the one or more actions include blocking delivery of the package.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the one or more actions include blocking delivery of the package pending review of the package by the policy authority.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the one or more actions include documenting the delivery of the package.

6. The computer readable claim of claim 5 wherein the documenting of the delivery of the package includes storing a copy of the package.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 5 wherein the documenting of the delivery of the package includes sending a copy of the package to a predetermined recipient.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein at least a one of the actions notifies at least one predetermined recipient of one or more others of the actions.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the predetermined recipient is the sender.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein the one or more actions include modifying the package.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the modifying of the package includes removing one or more data files attached to the package.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the modifying of the package includes modifying a message within the package.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the modifying of the package includes modifying data which specifies the manner in which the package is to be delivered.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the modifying of the package includes modifying data which specifies recipient actions which can be performed on the package after receipt by the recipient.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein one or more of the conditions include a boolean expression involving data related to the sender.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein one or more of the conditions include a boolean expression involving data related to one or more of the recipients.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein one or more of the conditions include a boolean expression involving data related to one or more attributes of the package.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the package data is generated by the sender through a web browser.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 wherein the package data includes HTML form data.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the policy data is received from the policy authority through a computer network.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the computer network includes the Internet.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the notification is sent to the recipients as an SMTP e-mail message.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the package identification data is supplied as part of a URL.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the providing the particular recipient with access to the package in response to receipt of the package identification data includes transferring the package in connection with a hypertext transfer (HTTP) type protocol interaction.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

computer instructions executable to facilitate the receipt of the sender-generated package data.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

computer instructions executable to facilitate the receipt of the package identification data from one of the recipients.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular recipient is not associated with the sender enterprise.