Presence sensing information security

• US 8,904,185 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2004
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Daniels, Fonda, Kumhyr, David B., Lyle, Ruthie D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Teshome
• Application Number:
  US10/985,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20060101275A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,674 Days
• Field of Search: 713/182
• US Class Current: 713/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus for presence sensing security. A presence sensing security method can include the step of securing access to only a portion of a computing device based upon the presence of at least one of an authorized user and an unauthorized user. The securing step can include securing content of selected applications of the computing device based upon the presence of at least one of an authorized user and an unauthorized user. Additionally, the securing step can include securing access to selected files in the computing device based upon the presence of at least one of an authorized user and an unauthorized user.

Claims

1. A presence sensing security method comprising the steps of:

detecting in proximity to a display of a computing device a presence of at least one of an authorized user and an unauthorized user;

securing visual content of one or more messages in a messenger client executing in the computing device by masking the visual content of the one or more messages in only a portion of the display of the computing device in response to detecting the presence of the unauthorized user while permitting access to other portions of the display of the computing device despite the presence of the unauthorized user; and

,

performing, based upon the presence of the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user, an additional security measure selected from the group consisting of securing access to one or more selected files or directories in said computing device by encrypting said selected files or directories in said computing device and disabling a hardware peripheral device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a third party user has been authorized to interact with the computing device when the authorized user is not present; and

,

if so, securing the computing device excepting for a portion of the computing device authorized for use by the third party user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising securing access to only a portion of the computing device based upon detecting the presence of a radio frequency identification tag associated with the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising securing access to only a portion of the computing device based upon a manual specification of the presence of the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user.

5. A presence sensing security system comprising:

presence detecting circuitry executing in a protected computing device configured to detect a sensing device; and

,

presence based security logic coupled to the protected computing device and programmed to respond to a detection of a presence of unauthorized user by securing visual content of one or more messages in a messenger client by masking the visual content of the one or more messages in only a portion of a display of the protected computing device while permitting access to other portions of the display of the protected computing device despite the presence of the unauthorized user and to perform, based upon the presence of the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user, an additional security measure selected from the group consisting of securing access to one or more selected files or directories in said computing device by encrypting said selected files or directories in said computing device and disabling a hardware peripheral device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the sensing device is a radio frequency identification tag.

7. A machine readable storage device having stored thereon a computer program for presence sensing security, the computer program comprising a routine set of instructions which when executed by a computing device causes the computing device to perform the steps of:

detecting in proximity to a display of the computing device a presence of at least one of an authorized user and an unauthorized user;

securing visual content of one or more messages in a messenger client executing in the computing device by masking the visual content of the one or more messages in only a portion of the display of the computing device in response to detecting the presence of the unauthorized user while permitting access to other portions of the display of the computing device despite the presence of the unauthorized user; and

,

performing, based upon the presence of the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user, an additional security measure selected from the group consisting of securing access to one or more selected files or directories in said computing device by encrypting said selected files or directories in said computing device and disabling a hardware peripheral device.

8. The machine readable storage device of claim 7, further comprising an additional set of instructions which when executed by the computing device cause the computing device to further perform the steps of:

determining whether a third party user has been authorized to interact with the computing device when the authorized user is not present; and

,

if so, securing the computing device excepting for a portion computing device authorized for use by the third party user.

9. The machine readable storage device of claim 7, further comprising the step of securing access to only a portion of the computing device based upon detecting the presence of a radio frequency identification tag associated with the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user.

10. The machine readable storage device of claim 7, further comprising the step of securing access to only a portion of the computing device based upon a manual specification of the presence of the at least one of the authorized user and the unauthorized user.