Contextual alert of an invasion of a computer system

• US 8,595,838 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheswick, William Roberts
• Primary Examiner(s): REVAK, CHRISTOPHER A
• Application Number:
  US13/558,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20120291130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 488 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/562 Static detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing contextual feedback to a user of a computer system upon detection of an invasion of the computer system are provided herein. An invasion of the computer system is detected and a contextually appropriate alert is selected from a set of alerts. The alert is played immediately upon detection of the invasion so that the user is alerted to the invasion within close temporal proximity to the user'"'"'s action that resulted in the invasion of the computer system. In addition, details of the invasion are logged to a diagnostic log file for later use by support personnel in repairing the computer system.

Claims

1. A method for providing a contextual feedback of an invasion of a computer system, comprising:

detecting, by an invasion detector program executing in the computer system, the invasion of the computer system;

selecting, by the invasion detector program, a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer system based on a context of the invasion;

playing the contextual alert to a user of the computer system to alert of the invasion; and

logging information regarding the context of the invasion to a log file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual alert comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual alert comprises an emission of fake smoke from the computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual alert comprises an emission of an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the invasion comprises a type of the invasion and a severity of the invasion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the contextual alert is further based upon user preferences of the computer system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer system comprises detecting a change to one of a program file, a data file, or a configuration setting of the computer system.

8. A system for providing contextual feedback of an invasion of a computer system, comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory that stores an invasion detector program that, when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unit to perform operations comprising

detecting the invasion of the computer system,

selecting a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer system based on the context of the invasion, and

playing the contextual alert to alert of the invasion,

wherein each of the plurality of contextual alerts comprises a contextual response that inherently relates to a user a context of an invasion of the computer system.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the contextual alert comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the contextual alert comprises an emission of fake smoke from the computer.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the contextual alert comprises an emission of an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the context of the invasion comprises a type of the invasion and a severity of the invasion.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection of the contextual alert is further based upon user preferences of the computer system.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer system comprises detecting a change to one of a program file, a data file, or a configuration setting of the computer system.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the invasion detector program is further operative to log information regarding the context of the invasion to a log file.

16. A computer readable storage device having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

detecting a change in a system configuration of the computer;

selecting a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer based on a type and a severity of the change in the system configuration, each of the plurality of contextual alerts representing a contextual response that inherently indicates to a user the type and the severity of changes in the system configuration;

playing the contextual alert to alert of the change in the system configuration; and

logging information regarding the change in the system configuration to a log file.

17. The computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the selection of the contextual alert is further based upon user preferences stored on the computer.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein one of the plurality of contextual alerts comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance contextually related to the type and the severity of the change in the system configuration of the computer.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein one of the plurality of contextual alerts comprises an emission of fake smoke from the computer.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 16, wherein one of the plurality of contextual alerts comprises an emission of an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit.