Methods, systems and computer program products for discreetly monitoring a communications network for sensitive information

• US 9,141,826 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aaron, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROMELL, ALEXANDRIA Y
• Application Number:
  US14/482,582
• Publication Number:
  US 20150033358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 377 Days
• Field of Search: 707/733, 707/707, 713/182, 726/26
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00

Abstract

A method for monitoring a network for information includes repeatedly searching the network for sensitive information about a subscriber. The network is intermittently searched for obscuring information during the repeated searching to thereby disguise the sensitive information that is the target of the repeated searching. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code embodied in the medium that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

populating a database with sensitive information about a subscriber and obscuring information different from the sensitive information;

providing, to a search engine, a combined search request sequence comprising a plurality of repeated search requests for the sensitive information and a plurality of intermittent search requests for the obscuring information interleaved between ones of the plurality of repeated search requests, wherein the intermittent search requests for the obscuring information disguise the sensitive information that is a subject of the repeated search requests;

identifying, among results of the repeated search requests and the intermittent search requests received from the search engine, search results containing the sensitive information; and

reporting the search results that were identified to the subscriber.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein, when executed by the processor, the computer readable program code causes the processor to perform further operations comprising:

obtaining the sensitive information for the repeated search requests from the subscriber;

randomly-generating the obscuring information;

expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information to generate target information; and

repeatedly searching the network for the target information,

wherein repeatedly searching for the target information comprises repeatedly searching for the sensitive information and intermittently searching for the obscuring information responsive to the combined search request sequence.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein obtaining the sensitive information from the subscriber further comprises obtaining preference information from the subscriber as to a degree of privacy for the sensitive information.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information comprises augmenting the sensitive information about the subscriber with information about other subscribers.

5. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information comprises augmenting the sensitive information about the subscriber with randomly-generated information about non-existent subscribers.

6. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information comprises augmenting the sensitive information about the subscriber with public information about non-subscribers.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein populating the database comprises populating the database with sensitive information about a plurality of subscribers and randomly-generated obscuring information to produce expanded information for each of the plurality of subscribers, and wherein the combined search request sequence comprises a plurality of interleaved search requests for expanded information for a first subscriber and for a second subscriber.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein, when executed by the processor, the computer readable program code causes the processor to perform further operations comprising:

providing search requests for additional information about the subscriber to the search engine responsive to identifying the search results containing the sensitive information.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the intermittent search requests are provided during a delay between ones of the repeated search requests for related sensitive information.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein identifying the search results containing the sensitive information further comprises:

excluding specified ones of the results; and

comparing remaining ones of the results with the sensitive information obtained from the subscriber to identify the search results containing the sensitive information.

11. A computer system for monitoring a computer network for information, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code stored therein that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

populating a database with sensitive information about a subscriber and obscuring information different from the sensitive information;

providing, to a search engine, a combined search request sequence comprising a plurality of repeated search requests for the sensitive information and a plurality of intermittent search requests for the obscuring information interleaved between ones of the plurality of repeated search requests, wherein the intermittent search requests for the obscuring information disguise the sensitive information that is a subject of the repeated search requests;

identifying, among results of the repeated search requests and the intermittent search requests received from the search engine, search results containing the sensitive information; and

reporting the search results that were identified to the subscriber.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein, when executed by the processor, the computer readable program code causes the processor to perform further operations comprising:

obtaining the sensitive information for the repeated search requests from the subscriber;

randomly-generating the obscuring information;

expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information to generate target information; and

repeatedly searching the network for the target information,

wherein repeatedly searching for the target information comprises repeatedly searching for the sensitive information and intermittently searching for the obscuring information responsive to the combined search request sequence.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein obtaining the sensitive information from the subscriber further comprises obtaining preference information from the subscriber as to a degree of privacy for the sensitive information.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein expanding the sensitive information with the obscuring information comprises augmenting the sensitive information about the subscriber with public information about non-subscribers.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein populating the database comprises populating the database with sensitive information about a plurality of subscribers and randomly-generated obscuring information to produce expanded information for each of the plurality of subscribers, and wherein the combined search request sequence comprises a plurality of interleaved search requests for expanded information for a first subscriber and for a second subscriber.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein, when executed by the processor, the computer readable program code causes the processor to perform further operations comprising:

providing search requests for additional information about the subscriber to the search engine responsive to identifying the search results containing the sensitive information.

17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the intermittent search requests are provided during a delay between ones of the repeated search requests for related sensitive information.

18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein identifying the search results containing the sensitive information further comprises:

excluding specified ones of the results; and

comparing remaining ones of the results with the sensitive information obtained from the subscriber to identify the search results containing the sensitive information.