User challenge using geography of previous login

• US 9,049,211 B1
• Filed: 11/09/2011
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hearn, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Simitoski, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAVELLE, GARY E
• Application Number:
  US13/292,925
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/316 by observing the pattern of computer usage, e.g. typical user behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for performing a user challenge are disclosed. An example computer-implemented method includes receiving, at a server, a request, including a set of login credentials, to access an online service of the server and verifying the received credentials. In the event the login credentials are invalid, the request is denied, and, in the event the login credentials are valid, a challenge is provided to a user that provided the login credentials. The challenge includes: requesting that the user identify a geographic location of a previous successful login; receiving a response to the challenge, the response including a user provided geographic location; and determining if the challenge is satisfied by determining if the provided location is within a threshold distance of a previous login location associated with the user credentials. If the challenge is satisfied, the request is granted. If the challenge is not satisfied, the request is denied.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a request to access an online service provided by the server, the request including a set of login credentials;

verifying that the login credentials are valid;

providing instructions for a challenge to a user that provided the login credentials including a graphical user interface (GUI) including a map image,

the graphical user interface being configured to allow the user to reposition and resize the map image,

the challenge instructions requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of a geographic location of a previous successful login associated with the login credentials including providing an indication of map image boundaries selected by the user and a map center point corresponding with the selected map image boundaries, and

the challenge instructions providing information to the user regarding threshold criteria that will be used to determine if the challenge is satisfied, the information indicating that the map center point be within a threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login;

receiving a response to the challenge, the response including the indication of the identified geographic location;

determining if the challenge is satisfied by determining, using the threshold criteria, if the identified geographic location is within the threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login associated with the login credentials;

if the challenge is satisfied, granting the request; and

if the challenge is not satisfied, denying the request.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,

wherein determining if the identified geographic location is within the threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login comprises determining if the map center point corresponding with the received map image boundaries is within the threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining if the challenge is satisfied further comprises determining if an area defined by the map image boundaries is below a threshold size.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to allow the user to reposition the map image by providing at least one of an address, a city name, a state name, a province name, a country name and a landmark name.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to receive the at least one of an address, a city name, a state name, a province name, a country name and a landmark name as text input.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to allow the user to provide an indication of a geographic location by placing a marker on the map image.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to reposition the map image using the marker as a center point.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to allow the user to move the marker after placing the marker on the map image.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to allow the user to resize the map image by zooming-in on the map image and zooming-out on the map image.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold distance depends on the geographic location of the previous successful login.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of the geographic location of the previous successful login comprises requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of a geographic location of a last successful login.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of the geographic location of the previous successful login comprises requesting that the user identify one of a predetermined number of previous successful login attempts, the predetermined number being greater than one.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to determine geographic locations based on Internet Protocol (IP) geocoding.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a request to access an online service provided by the server, the request including a set of valid login credentials;

providing instructions for a challenge to a user that provided the login credentials including a graphical user interface (GUI) including a map image,

the graphical user interface being configured to allow the user to reposition and resize the map image,

the challenge instructions requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of a geographic location of a previous successful login associated with the login credentials including providing an indication of map image boundaries selected by the user, and

the challenge instructions providing information to the user regarding threshold criteria that will be used to determine if the challenge is satisfied, the information indicating that the map image boundaries selected by the user be equal to or less than a threshold size;

receiving a response to the challenge, the response including the indication of the identified geographic location;

determining if the challenge is satisfied by determining, using the threshold criteria, if the identified geographic location is within a threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login associated with the login credentials;

if the challenge is satisfied, granting the request; and

if the challenge is not satisfied, denying the request.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14,

wherein the threshold criteria includes map image boundaries of the threshold size, and

wherein determining if the identified geographic location is within the threshold distance further comprises:

determining if the selected map image boundaries are equal to or less than the threshold size; and

responsive to determining that the selected map image boundaries are equal to or less than the threshold size, determining if the geographic location of the previous successful login is within the selected map image boundaries.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of the geographic location of the previous successful login comprises requesting that the user identify one of a predetermined number of previous successful login attempts, the predetermined number being greater than one.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

performing, by the server, a risk assessment analysis of the request, the risk assessment analysis determining that the request includes one or more attributes indicating the request is potentially fraudulent.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the risk assessment analysis is based on at least one of:

an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the request;

a geographic location associated with the request; and

a distance between the geographic location associated with the request and a geographic location of a last successful login associated with the login credentials, and an elapsed time between the request and the last successful login.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the geographic location of the request and the geographic location of the last successful login attempt are determined using Internet Protocol geocoding.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having recorded and stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the actions of:

receiving, at a server, a request to access an online service provided by the server, the request including a set of login credentials;

verifying that the login credentials are valid;

providing instructions for a challenge to a user that provided the login credentials including a graphical user interface (GUI) including a map image,

the graphical user interface being configured to allow the user to reposition and resize the map image,

the challenge instructions requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of a geographic location of a previous successful login associated with the login credentials including providing an indication of map image boundaries selected by the user and a map center point corresponding with the selected map image boundaries, and

the challenge instructions providing information to the user regarding threshold criteria that will be used to determine if the challenge is satisfied, the information indicating that the map center point be within a threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login;

receiving a response to the challenge, the response including the indication of the identified geographic location;

determining if the challenge is satisfied by determining, using the threshold criteria, if the identified geographic location is within the threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login associated with the login credentials;

if the challenge is satisfied, granting the request; and

if the challenge is not satisfied, denying the request.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having recorded and stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the actions of:

receiving, at a server, a request to access an online service provided by the server, the request including a set of valid login credentials;

providing instructions for a challenge to a user that provided the login credentials including a graphical user interface (GUI) including a map image,

the graphical user interface being configured to allow the user to reposition and resize the map image,

the challenge instructions requesting that the user identify and provide an indication of a geographic location of a previous successful login associated with the login credentials including providing an indication of map image boundaries selected by the user, and

the challenge instructions providing information to the user regarding threshold criteria that will be used to determine if the challenge is satisfied, the information indicating that the map image boundaries selected by the user be equal to or less than a threshold size;

receiving a response to the challenge, the response including the indication of the identified geographic location;

determining if the challenge is satisfied by determining, using the threshold criteria, if the identified geographic location is within a threshold distance of the geographic location of the previous successful login associated with the login credentials;

if the challenge is satisfied, granting the request; and

if the challenge is not satisfied, denying the request.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, further including instructions that, when executed by the computing device, further cause the computing device to perform the action of:

performing, by the server, a risk assessment analysis of the request, the risk assessment analysis determining that the request includes one or more attributes indicating the request is potentially fraudulent.