Providing mobile device management functionalities

• US 9,455,886 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2013
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Qureshi, Waheed
• Primary Examiner(s): ELFERVIG, TAYLOR A
• Application Number:
  US14/032,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/238, 713/168, 726/1, 726/12, 726/16
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2876 Handling of subscriber policies group policies management H04L41/0893
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• 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 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/205 involving negotiation or determination of the one or more network security mechanisms to be used, e.g. by negotiation between the client and the server or between peers or by selection according to the capabilities of the entities involved negotiation of communication capabilities H04L69/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 : Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 : Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 : using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 : Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing mobile device management functionalities are presented. In various embodiments, a mobile device management agent may monitor state information associated with a mobile computing device. The monitored state information may be analyzed on the mobile computing device and/or by one or more policy management servers. In some instances, the one or more policy management servers may provide management information to the mobile computing device, and the management information may include one or more commands (which may, e.g., cause the mobile computing device to enforce one or more policies) and/or one or more policy updates. Subsequently, one or more policies may be enforced on the mobile computing device based on the monitored state information and/or based on the management information.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring, by a mobile device management agent on a mobile computing device, state information associated with the mobile computing device;

providing, by the mobile device management agent, at least some of the monitored state information to one or more policy management servers;

applying, by the mobile device management agent, one or more policies to application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device based on the monitored state information to enable a dual-mode application on the mobile computing device to establish at least one tunnel to at least one enterprise resource, the dual-mode application having a managed mode which provides access to enterprise data obtained from the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel and in which one or more management policies are enforced on the dual-mode application, and the dual-mode application having an unmanaged mode which limits access to the enterprise data and in which the one or more management policies are not enforced on the dual-mode application;

receiving, by the mobile device management agent, from the one or more policy management servers, management information that comprises one or more commands generated by the one or more policy management servers based on the at least some of the monitored state information received from the mobile device management agent on the mobile computing device, the one or more commands comprising at least one command configured to cause the mobile device management agent to selectively disable the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device; and

selectively disabling, by the mobile device management agent, the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device based on the at least one command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the state information comprises one or more of:

identifying one or more applications that are present on the mobile computing device;

identifying one or more network connections that are used by the mobile computing device;

or determining current location information for the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the one or more policies to the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device comprises restricting content that is exchangeable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein restricting the content that is exchangeable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource comprises preventing at least one specific type of data from being exchanged via the at least one tunnel based on the monitored state information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the one or more policies to the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device comprises restricting operations that are performable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein restricting the operations that are performable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource comprises preventing, based on the monitored state information, one or more write operations from being performed on one or more enterprise resources accessed via the at least one tunnel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the management information further comprises one or more policy updates.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one policy of the one or more policies defines one or more circumstances in which an application tunnel can be established from the mobile computing device to a specific enterprise resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one policy of the one or more policies defines one or more circumstances in which the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device are selectively disabled for a specific application on the mobile computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one command of the one or more commands included in the management information is configured to cause the mobile device management agent to disable the managed mode of the dual-mode application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the dual-mode application is configured to access data in a secure data container when operating in the managed mode, and the dual-mode application is configured to access data in an unsecured data container when operating in the unmanaged mode.

12. A mobile computing device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile computing device to;

monitor, via a mobile device management agent on the mobile computing device, state information associated with the mobile computing device;

provide, via the mobile device management agent, at least some of the monitored state information to one or more policy management servers;

apply, via the mobile device management agent, one or more policies to application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device based on the monitored state information to enable a dual-mode application on the mobile computing device to establish at least one tunnel to at least one enterprise resource, the dual-mode application having a managed mode which provides access to enterprise data obtained from the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel and in which one or more management policies are enforced on the dual-mode application, and the dual-mode application having an unmanaged mode which limits access to the enterprise data and in which the one or more management policies are not enforced on the dual-mode application;

receive, via the mobile device management agent, from the one or more policy management servers, management information that comprises one or more commands generated by the one or more policy management servers based on the at least some of the monitored state information received from the mobile device management agent on the mobile computing device, the one or more commands comprising at least one command configured to cause the mobile device management agent to selectively disable the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device; and

selectively disable, via the mobile device management agent, the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device based on the at least one command.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein monitoring the state information comprises one or more of:

identifying one or more applications that are present on the mobile computing device;

identifying one or more network connections that are used by the mobile computing device;

or determining current location information for the mobile computing device.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein applying the one or more policies to the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device comprises restricting content that is exchangeable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel.

15. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein applying the one or more policies to the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device comprises restricting operations that are performable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the management information further comprises one or more policy updates.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a mobile computing device to:

monitor, via a mobile device management agent on the mobile computing device, state information associated with the mobile computing device;

provide, via the mobile device management agent, at least some of the monitored state information to one or more policy management servers;

apply, via the mobile device management agent, one or more policies to application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device based on the monitored state information to enable a dual-mode application on the mobile computing device to establish at least one tunnel to at least one enterprise resource, the dual-mode application having a managed mode which provides access to enterprise data obtained from the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel and in which one or more management policies are enforced on the dual-mode application, and the dual-mode application having an unmanaged mode which limits access to the enterprise data and in which the one or more management policies are not enforced on the dual-mode application;

receive, via the mobile device management agent, from the one or more policy management servers, management information that comprises one or more commands generated by the one or more policy management servers based on the at least some of the monitored state information received from the mobile device management agent on the mobile computing device, the one or more commands comprising at least one command configured to cause the mobile device management agent to selectively disable the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device; and

selectively disable, via the mobile device management agent, the application tunneling functionalities for the dual-mode application on the mobile computing device based on the at least one command.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein monitoring the state information comprises one or more of:

identifying one or more applications that are present on the mobile computing device;

identifying one or more network connections that are used by the mobile computing device;

or determining current location information for the mobile computing device.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein applying the one or more policies to the application tunneling functionalities on the mobile computing device comprises restricting content that is exchangeable by the dual-mode application with the at least one enterprise resource via the at least one tunnel.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the management information further comprises one or more policy updates.