Systems, methods, and computer program products for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network

• US 8,955,140 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2013
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Bailey, JR., Samuel A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Davis, Zachary A
• Application Number:
  US14/139,840
• Publication Number:
  US 20140115707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22, 726/23, 726/25, 705/7.28
• US Class Current: 726/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys

Abstract

A system for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network includes a microprocessor coupled to a memory and an electronic storage device. The microprocessor receives sensor data from sensors, and stores the sensor data for each sensor in the electronic storage device. The microprocessor also receives, via the communication network, a data reporting instruction defining a data reporting technique corresponding to the sensor data associated with one or more of the sensors. The data reporting instruction is stored in the electronic storage device, and the microprocessor transmits, to a trust mediator over the communication network, at least a portion of the sensor data based on the data reporting instruction. The trust mediator maintains an acceptable level of security for data throughout the communication network by adjusting security safeguards based on the sensor data.

Claims

1. A method for collecting sensor data over a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving, over a communication network, sensor data from at least one of a plurality of sensors;

identifying one or more risks based on the received sensor data;

selecting, from the plurality of sensors, a cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks;

determining a data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks; and

transmitting, to a trust mediator agent over the communication network, a data reporting instruction identifying the cluster of sensors and the data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the trust mediator agent over the communication network, additional sensor data from the cluster of sensors based on the data reporting technique.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of biometric data, geographic position data, financial transaction data, data defining a financial transaction type, payload data, pairing data, hash function data, digital signature data, communication session data, traffic analysis data, honeypot data, password attempt data, security-related information retrieved from a risk engine, security-related information retrieved from a risk network, security-related information retrieved by a web crawler, and statistical data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data reporting technique includes at least one of event-based reporting, polling-based reporting, sampling rate-based reporting, running summation-based reporting, block measurement-based reporting, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk engines, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk networks, and reporting statistics computed based on the sensor data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the trust mediator agent over the communication network, an instruction to implement a security safeguard based on at least a portion of the received sensor data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the security safeguard includes at least one of an encryption algorithm, a decryption algorithm, a key length, a checksum, a hash function, an access level, a password requirement, and a fingerprint requirement.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the trust mediator agent over the communication network, a transaction request to execute a financial transaction; and

transmitting, over the communication network, a response to the transaction request based on at least a portion of the received sensor data.

8. A system for collecting sensor data over a communication network, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device accessible by the processor and storing at least one of;

computer code executable by the processor, and

data used by the computer code,

wherein the processor is configured to;

receive, over a communication network, sensor data from at least one of a plurality of sensors;

identify one or more risks based on the received sensor data;

select, from the plurality of sensors, a cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks;

determine a data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks; and

transmit, to a trust mediator agent over the communication network, a data reporting instruction identifying the cluster of sensors and the data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, from the trust mediator agent over the communication network, additional sensor data from the cluster of sensors based on the data reporting technique.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of biometric data, geographic position data, financial transaction data, data defining a financial transaction type, payload data, pairing data, hash function data, digital signature data, communication session data, traffic analysis data, honeypot data, password attempt data, security-related information retrieved from a risk engine, security-related information retrieved from a risk network, security-related information retrieved by a web crawler, and statistical data.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the data reporting technique includes at least one of event-based reporting, polling-based reporting, sampling rate-based reporting, running summation-based reporting, block measurement-based reporting, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk engines, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk networks, and reporting statistics computed based on the sensor data.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit, to the trust mediator agent over the communication network, an instruction to implement a security safeguard based on at least a portion of the received sensor data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the security safeguard includes at least one of an encryption algorithm, a decryption algorithm, a key length, a checksum, a hash function, an access level, a password requirement, and a fingerprint requirement.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, from the trust mediator agent over the communication network, a transaction request to execute a financial transaction; and

transmit, over the communication network, a response to the transaction request based on at least a portion of the received sensor data.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions, which, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform:

receiving, over a communication network, sensor data from at least one of a plurality of sensors;

identifying one or more risks based on the received sensor data;

selecting, from the plurality of sensors, a cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks;

determining a data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors based on the one or more identified risks; and

transmitting, to a trust mediator agent over the communication network, a data reporting instruction identifying the cluster of sensors and the data reporting technique for each sensor of the cluster of sensors.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions, which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to perform:

receiving, from the trust mediator agent over the communication network, additional sensor data from the cluster of sensors based on the data reporting technique.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of biometric data, geographic position data, financial transaction data, data defining a financial transaction type, payload data, pairing data, hash function data, digital signature data, communication session data, traffic analysis data, honeypot data, password attempt data, security-related information retrieved from a risk engine, security-related information retrieved from a risk network, security-related information retrieved by a web crawler, and statistical data.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the data reporting technique includes at least one of event-based reporting, polling-based reporting, sampling rate-based reporting, running summation-based reporting, block measurement-based reporting, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk engines, reporting an aggregation of security-related information retrieved from multiple risk networks, and reporting statistics computed based on the sensor data.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the sequences of instructions further include instructions, which, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to perform:

transmitting, to the trust mediator agent over the communication network, an instruction to implement a security safeguard based on at least a portion of the received sensor data.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the security safeguard includes at least one of an encryption algorithm, a decryption algorithm, a key length, a checksum, a hash function, an access level, a password requirement, and a fingerprint requirement.