Identity theft countermeasures

• US 9,384,348 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James A. Roskind
• Original Assignee: James A. Roskind
• Inventors: Roskind, James A., Emigh, Aaron T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughan, Michael R
• Application Number:
  US13/743,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/55 Detecting local intrusion or implementing counter-measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12

Abstract

In some embodiments, techniques for computer security comprise preventing and/or mitigating identity theft such as phishing.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an electronic message that includes a link corresponding to a source address for a document that is to be presented on a display of the computing device;

determining whether the document is trustworthy based on the source address;

if the document is determined to be trustworthy, processing the document in a first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display of the computing device, and retrieving and presenting any subsequent documents selected from the document without determining whether the subsequent documents are trustworthy; and

if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, processing the document in a second mode that is different than the first mode, and processing any subsequent documents selected from the document in the second mode.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the source address for the document is a uniform resource locator (URL).

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to determine whether the document is trustworthy based on one or more characters of the URL.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to determine whether the document is trustworthy based on whether the URL includes an embedded user name.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to, if the document is determined to be trustworthy, process the document in the first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display of the computing device, and retrieving and presenting a second document subsequently selected from the same domain as the document.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to, if the document is determined to be trustworthy, process the document in the first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display of the computing device with a visual indication that the document is trustworthy.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to, if the document is determined to be trustworthy, process the document in the first mode by enabling form submissions associated with the document.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to, if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, process the document in the second mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display of the computing device with a visual indication that the document is untrustworthy.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to, if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, process the document in the second mode by issuing a warning before retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display of the computing device.

10. A computing device comprising:

a display device;

a memory resource storing instructions; and

a processor coupled to the display device and the memory resource, the processor executing the instructions to cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

receiving an electronic message that includes a link corresponding to a source address for a document that is to be presented on the display device;

determining whether the document is trustworthy based on the source address;

if the document is determined to be trustworthy, processing the document in a first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display device, and retrieving and presenting any subsequent documents selected from the document without determining whether the subsequent documents are trustworthy; and

if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, processing the document in a second mode that is different than the first mode, and processing any subsequent documents selected from the document in the second mode.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the source address for the document is a uniform resource locator (URL).

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing device determines whether the document is trustworthy based on one or more characters of the URL.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the computing device determines whether the document is trustworthy based on whether the URL includes an embedded user name.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device, if the document is determined to be trustworthy, processes the document in the first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display device, and retrieving and presenting a second document subsequently selected from a same domain as the document.

15. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device, if the document is determined to be trustworthy, processes the document in the first mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display device with a visual indication that the document is trustworthy.

16. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device, if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, processes the document in the second mode by disabling form submissions associated with the document.

17. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device, if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, processes the document in the second mode by retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display device with a visual indication that the document is untrustworthy.

18. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device, if the document is determined to be untrustworthy, processes the document in the second mode by issuing a warning before retrieving the document from the source address and presenting the document on the display device.