Protection of user data in hosted application environments

• US 9,430,653 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2015
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Christodorescu, Mihai, Pendarakis, Dimitrios, Singh, Kapil K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Lisa
• Assistant Examiner(s): Torres-Diaz, Lizbeth
• Application Number:
  US14/685,922
• Publication Number:
  US 20150271180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 504 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources

Abstract

A method of converting an original application into a cloud-hosted application includes splitting the original application into a plurality of application components along security relevant boundaries, mapping the application components to hosting infrastructure boundaries, and using a mechanism to enforce a privacy policy of a user. The mapping may include assigning each application component to a distinct virtual machine, which acts as a container for its assigned component.

Claims

1. A method of converting an original application into a distributed application, the method comprising:

splitting, by a processor, the original application into a plurality of application components, along security relevant boundaries, wherein the original application performs a plurality of functions;

constructing, by the processor, a customized licensing agreement with a distinct textual section for each application component;

removing, by the processor, each textual section from the licensing agreement that is associated with one of the application components that has access to an external party and to user data of a user, when a privacy policy of the user indicates that the corresponding external party is to be denied access to the user data;

mapping, by the processor, the application components to hosting infrastructure boundaries to enable the application components to be hosted by separate entities communicating with one another through a computer network;

using, by the processor, a mechanism to enforce the privacy policy to provide secure communications between the application components; and

presenting, by the processor, the customized licensing agreement to the user for approval by the user before access to the distributed application is enabled.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling or disabling each application component based on whether the privacy policy indicates the external party has access to the user data of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the external party is a website.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a corresponding one of the application components configured to communicate with the website is disabled when the privacy policy indicates access of the website to the user data is denied.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a corresponding one of the application components configured to communicate with the website is enabled when the privacy policy indicates access of the website to the user data is allowed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a structure of the licensing agreement is machine readable such that the licensing agreement is readable by a natural language processing tool.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the splitting comprises the processor parsing computer code of the original application for boundary program labels that define respective boundaries of each application component within the original application, and generating a new program for each boundary program label that performs a subset of the functions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each new program has access to a website and only a distinct subset of user data of the user based on the privacy policy.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the processor creates an additional program that has access to all user data of the user, is configured to process data from the additional programs to produce results that are presented to the user, and is prevented from accessing the websites.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping comprises assigning each application component to a distinct virtual machine, which acts as a container for its assigned component.

11. A computer system configured to convert an original application into a distributed application, the system comprising:

a memory storing a computer program; and

a processor configured to execute the program,

wherein the program is configured to split the original application into a plurality of application components along security relevant boundaries, the original application performing a plurality of functions;

construct a customized licensing agreement with a distinct textual section for each application component;

remove each textual section from the licensing agreement that is associated with one of the application components that has access to an external party and to user data of a user, when a privacy policy of the user indicates that the external party is to be denied access to the user data;

map the application components to hosting infrastructure boundaries to enable the application components to be hosted by separate entities communicating with one another through a computer network;

use a mechanism to enforce the privacy policy to provide secure communications between the application components; and

present the customized licensing agreement to the user for approval by the user before access to the distributed application is enabled.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the program is configured to enable or disable each application component based on whether the privacy policy indicates the external party has access to the user data of the user.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the external party is a website.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein a corresponding one of the application components configured to communicate with the website is disabled when the privacy policy indicates access of the website to the user data is denied, and enabled when the privacy policy indicates access of the website to the user data is allowed.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein a structure of the licensing agreement is machine readable such that the licensing agreement is readable by a natural language processing tool.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the map assigns each application component to a distinct virtual machine, which acts as a container for its assigned component.