Providing a managed browser

• US 8,893,221 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2013
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Qureshi, Waheed
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, JASON T
• Application Number:
  US14/043,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298405A1
• Time in Patent Office: 413 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 726/15
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/41 where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• 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 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing a managed browser are presented. In various embodiments, a computing device may load a managed browser. The managed browser may, for instance, be configured to provide a managed mode in which one or more policies are applied to the managed browser, and an unmanaged mode in which such policies might not be applied and/or in which the browser might not be managed by at least one device manager agent running on the computing device. Based on device state information and/or one or more policies, the managed browser may switch between the managed mode and the unmanaged mode, and the managed browser may provide various functionalities, which may include selectively providing access to enterprise resources, based on such state information and/or the one or more policies.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by at least one server computing device, at least one policy to be applied to one or more managed browsers on one or more user computing devices, the one or more managed browsers being configured to provide at least one managed mode in which one or more policies are applied to the one or more managed browsers; and

providing, by the at least one server computing device, at least one policy update to at least one managed browser on at least one user computing device of the one or more user computing devices based on the at least one received policy,

wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more caching rules,

wherein at least one caching rule of the one or more caching rules is configured to selectively block caching of one or more specific types of content by the at least one managed browser based on state information associated with the at least one user computing device,

wherein the state information associated with the at least one user computing device is monitored by at least one mobile resource management (MRM) agent that is configured to run on the at least one user computing device and collect device-level state information associated with the at least one user computing device, and

wherein the at least one received policy is configured to be enforced by the at least one user computing device based on the state information associated with the at least one user computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one policy update is configured to cause the at least one user computing device to apply the at least one received policy to the at least one managed browser on the at least one user computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more content filtering rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more plugin rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more credential management rules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more rules that are configured to cause the one or more managed browsers to switch to an unmanaged mode based on one or more criteria.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information associated with the at least one user computing device includes information regarding a location of the user computing device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information associated with the at least one user computing device includes information regarding a network to which to the user computing device is connected.

7. A computing device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to;

receive at least one policy to be applied to one or more managed browsers on one or more user computing devices, the one or more managed browsers being configured to provide at least one managed mode in which one or more policies are applied to the one or more managed browsers; and

provide at least one policy update to at least one managed browser on at least one user computing device of the one or more user computing devices based on the at least one received policy,

wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more caching rules,

wherein at least one caching rule of the one or more caching rules is configured to selectively block caching of one or more specific types of content by the at least one managed browser based on state information associated with the at least one user computing device,

wherein the state information associated with the at least one user computing device is monitored by at least one mobile resource management (MRM) agent that is configured to run on the at least one user computing device and collect device-level state information associated with the at least one user computing device, and

wherein the at least one received policy is configured to be enforced by the at least one user computing device based on the state information associated with the at least one user computing device.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one policy update is configured to cause the at least one user computing device to apply the at least one received policy to the at least one managed browser on the at least one user computing device.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more content filtering rules, and

wherein at least one content filtering rule of the one or more content filtering rules is configured to control the one or more managed browsers'"'"' ability to access specific enterprise resources.

10. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more plugin rules, and

wherein at least one plugin rule of the one or more plugin rules is configured to selectively prevent use of one or more specific plugins by the at least one managed browser based on state information associated with the at least one user computing device.

11. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more credential management rules, and

wherein at least one credential management rule of the one or more credential management rules is configured to selectively prevent use of one or more specific credentials by the at least one managed browser based on state information associated with the at least one user computing device.

12. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more rules that are configured to cause the one or more managed browsers to switch to an unmanaged mode based on one or more criteria, and

wherein the one or more policies are not applied to the one or more managed browsers in the unmanaged mode.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to:

receive at least one policy to be applied to one or more managed browsers on one or more user computing devices, the one or more managed browsers being configured to provide at least one managed mode in which one or more policies are applied to the one or more managed browsers; and

provide at least one policy update to at least one managed browser on at least one user computing device of the one or more user computing devices based on the at least one received policy,

wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more caching rules,

wherein at least one caching rule of the one or more caching rules is configured to selectively block caching of one or more specific types of content by the at least one managed browser based on state information associated with the at least one user computing device,

wherein the state information associated with the at least one user computing device is monitored by at least one mobile resource management (MRM) agent that is configured to run on the at least one user computing device and collect device-level state information associated with the at least one user computing device, and

wherein the at least one received policy is configured to be enforced by the at least one user computing device based on the state information associated with the at least one user computing device.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the at least one policy update is configured to cause the at least one user computing device to apply the at least one received policy to the at least one managed browser on the at least one user computing device.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the at least one received policy includes one or more rules that are configured to cause the one or more managed browsers to switch to an unmanaged mode based on one or more criteria.