Location-based information security

• US 8,843,108 B1
• Filed: 08/17/2011
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Lish, David F., Whittam, Christopher H. J., Bhattacharyya, Indraneel
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, TIMOTHY X
• Application Number:
  US13/212,049
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/60 related to security aspects in telephonic communication systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location

Abstract

To facilitate security, locations of a portable electronic device may be tracked during a time interval. These tracked locations are then used to determine a location pattern, and the location pattern is used to estimate one or more secure locations. Then, when a user accesses financial information using the portable electronic device, the security level is determined based on a current location and the one or more secure locations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

tracking locations of a portable electronic device during a time interval;

determining a location pattern based on the tracked locations;

estimating one or more secure locations based on the determined location pattern;

receiving a current location of the portable electronic device; and

when a user accesses financial information using the portable electronic device, determining a security level by;

when the current location comprises a location in the one or more secure locations, presenting a security challenge to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge, and

otherwise, when the current location is different from the one or more secure locations, presenting the security challenge and one or more additional security challenges to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge and the one or more additional security challenges.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more secure locations include routine locations that the user of the portable electronic device visited at least N times during the time interval.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the current location is within or proximate to one of the secure locations, the determined security level makes it easier for the user to access the financial information than the security level when the current location is outside of the secure locations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

tracking timestamps during the time interval when the portable electronic device is at the locations, wherein the determined location pattern is further based on the timestamps; and

receiving a timestamp when the portable electronic device is at the current location, wherein the determined security level is further based on the timestamp.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more secure locations include ZIP codes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more secure locations include regions proximate to routine locations that the user of the portable electronic device visited at least N times during the time interval.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the locations are tracked using at least one of:

a global positioning system, a cellular telephone system and a local positioning system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the locations are tracked according to a hierarchy, in which:

if available, a global positioning system is used to track the locations;

if the global positioning system is unavailable, a cellular telephone system is used to track the locations; and

if the cellular telephone system is unavailable, previously tracked locations during at least a portion of the time interval are used to estimate the locations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the locations are tracked according to a hierarchy, in which:

if available, a global positioning system is used to track the locations;

if the global positioning system is unavailable, a cellular telephone system is used to track the locations; and

if the cellular telephone system is unavailable, the locations are estimated based on a last known location of the portable electronic device and measurements performed using an accelerometer in the portable electronic device.

10. A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and a computer-program mechanism embedded therein, the computer-program mechanism including:

instructions for tracking locations of a portable electronic device during a time interval;

instructions for determining a location pattern based on the tracked locations;

instructions for estimating one or more secure locations based on the determined location pattern;

instructions for receiving a current location of the portable electronic device; and

when a user accesses financial information using the portable electronic device, instructions for determining a security level by;

when the current location comprises a location in the one or more secure locations, presenting a security challenge to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge, and

otherwise, when the current location is different from the one or more secure locations, presenting the security challenge and one or more additional security challenges to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge and the one or more additional security challenges.

11. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the one or more secure locations include routine locations that the user of the portable electronic device visited at least N times during the time interval.

12. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein, if the current location is within or proximate to one of the secure locations, the determined security level makes it easier for the user to access the financial information than the security level when the current location is outside of the secure locations.

13. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes:

instructions for tracking timestamps during the time interval when the portable electronic device is at the locations, wherein the determined location pattern is further based on the timestamps; and

instructions for receiving a timestamp when the portable electronic device is at the current location, wherein the determined security level is further based on the timestamp.

14. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the one or more secure locations include ZIP codes.

15. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the one or more secure locations include regions proximate to routine locations that the user of the portable electronic device visited at least N times during the time interval.

16. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the locations are tracked using at least one of:

a global positioning system, a cellular telephone system and a local positioning system.

17. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the locations are tracked according to a hierarchy, in which:

if available, a global positioning system is used to track the locations;

if the global positioning system is unavailable, a cellular telephone system is used to track the locations; and

if the cellular telephone system is unavailable, previously tracked locations during at least a portion of the time interval are used to estimate the locations.

18. The computer-program product of claim 10, wherein the locations are tracked according to a hierarchy, in which:

if available, a global positioning system is used to track the locations;

if the global positioning system is unavailable, a cellular telephone system is used to track the locations; and

if the cellular telephone system is unavailable, the locations are estimated based on a last known location of the portable electronic device and measurements performed using an accelerometer in the portable electronic device.

19. A computer system, comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

a program module, wherein the program module is stored in the memory and configurable to be executed by the processor, the program module including;

instructions for tracking locations of a portable electronic device during a time interval;

instructions for determining a location pattern based on the tracked locations;

instructions for estimating one or more secure locations based on the determined location pattern;

instructions for receiving a current location of the portable electronic device; and

when a user accesses financial information using the portable electronic device, instructions for determining a security level by;

when the current location comprises a location in the one or more secure locations, presenting a security challenge to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge, and

otherwise, when the current location is different from the one or more secure locations, presenting the security challenge and one or more additional security challenges to the user and causing access to be granted to the financial information when the user correctly answers the security challenge and the one or more additional security challenges.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein, if the current location is within or proximate to one of the secure locations, the determined security level makes it easier for the user to access the financial information than the security level when the current location is outside of the secure locations.