Contextual alert of an invasion of a computer system

• US 9,230,108 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheswick, William Roberts
• Primary Examiner(s): REVAK, CHRISTOPHER A
• Application Number:
  US14/089,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20140082731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/562 Static detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for providing contextual feedback to a user of a computer system upon detection of an invasion of the computer system are provided herein. An invasion of the computer system is detected and a contextually appropriate alert is selected from a set of alerts. The alert is played immediately upon detection of the invasion so that the user is alerted to the invasion within close temporal proximity to the user'"'"'s action that resulted in the invasion of the computer system. In addition, details of the invasion are logged to a diagnostic log file for later use by support personnel in repairing the computer system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by an invasion detector program executed by a processing unit of a computer device, an invasion of the computer device;

selecting, by the invasion detector program executed by the processing unit based at least in part on a context of the invasion of the computer device, a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer device; and

playing, by the invasion detector program executed by the processing unit to a user of the computer device, the contextual alert to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual alert comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion of the computer device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the contextual alert comprises emitting, from the computer device, a fake smoke to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the contextual alert comprises emitting, from the computer device, an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the invasion of the computer device comprises a type of the invasion of the computer device and a level of severity of the invasion of the computer device, and wherein the contextual alert selected from the plurality of contextual alerts based at least in part on the context of the invasion of the computer device corresponds to the level of severity of the invasion of the computer device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the contextual alert from the plurality of contextual alerts is further based upon user preferences on the computer device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the contextual alert from the plurality of contextual alerts is further based upon a characteristic of the user of the computer device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer device comprises detecting, by the invasion detector program executed by the processing unit of the computer device, a change to at least one of a program file, a data file, or a configuration setting of the computer device.

9. A computer device comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory that stores an invasion detector program that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform operations comprising

detecting an invasion of the computer device,

selecting, based at least in part on a context of the invasion of the computer device, a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer device, and

playing, to a user of the computer device, the contextual alert to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

10. The computer device of claim 9, wherein the contextual alert comprises a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion of the computer device.

11. The computer device of claim 9, wherein playing the contextual alert comprises emitting a fake smoke to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

12. The computer device of claim 9, wherein playing the contextual alert comprises emitting an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

13. The computer device of claim 9, wherein the context of the invasion of the computer device comprises a type of the invasion of the computer device and a level of severity of the invasion of the computer device, and wherein the contextual alert selected from the plurality of contextual alerts based at least in part on the context of the invasion of the computer device corresponds to the level of severity of the invasion of the computer device.

14. The computer device of claim 9, wherein selecting the contextual alert from the plurality of contextual alerts is further based upon user preferences stored on the computer device.

15. The computer device of claim 9, wherein selecting the contextual alert from the plurality of contextual alerts is further based upon a characteristic of the user of the computer device, wherein the characteristic of the user of the computer device comprises one of a level of knowledge of the user, a native language of the user, an age of the user, or cultural experience associated with the user.

16. The computer device of claim 9, wherein detecting the invasion of the computer device comprises detecting a change to at least one of a program file, a data file, or a configuration setting of the computer device.

17. A computer readable storage device storing an invasion detector program that, when executed by a computer device comprising a processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform operations comprising:

detecting an invasion of the computer device;

selecting, based at least in part on a context of the invasion of the computer device, a contextual alert from a plurality of contextual alerts stored on the computer device; and

playing, to a user of the computer device, the contextual alert to alert of the invasion of the computer device.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein selecting the contextual alert is further based upon user preferences stored on the computer device.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the contextual alert comprises at least one of a digital recording approximating a natural utterance related to the context of the invasion, an emission of fake smoke from the computer device, or an emission of an odor approximating a smell of an electrical short circuit.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein selecting the contextual alert from the plurality of contextual alerts is further based upon at least one of user preferences on the computer device or a characteristic of the user of the computer device.