System and method for adapting an internet filter

• US 9,503,423 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2014
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Forcepoint LLC
• Original Assignee: Websense, Llc (Forcepoint LLC)
• Inventors: Kester, Harold, Ruskin, Dan, Lee, Chris, Anderson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US14/294,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20140282861A1
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A system and method for updating a filtering system which controls access to a website/page between a local area network (LAN) and an Internet. The LAN includes an Internet gateway system coupled to a workstation and configured to receive a URL request. The system controls access to the website/page associated with the URL based on one or more categories that are associated with the URL. The Internet gateway system can determine the category that is associated with the URL by referencing a master database or requesting the category from a database factory. The database factory can receive URLs from multiple Internet gateway systems. The database factory determines whether the identifier was previously categorized by the database factory and provides the category to the Internet gateway system. Once the Internet gateway system has the category, it applies rules associated with the category and user to filter access to the requested website/page.

Claims

1. An apparatus for updating a filtering system which controls a computer'"'"'s access to a wide area network (WAN) of websites/pages, the apparatus comprising:

one or more hardware processors;

one or more hardware memories, each of the hardware memories operably coupled to a corresponding hardware processor, and collectively configured to store instructions for the one or more hardware processors, the hardware memories collectively comprising;

an upload/download module configured to cause the processor to receive an identifier associated with a website/page accessed by the computer whose access to the wide area network is controlled by the filtering system and information associated with the identifier,

a categorization module configured to cause the processor to categorize the identifier based at least in part on one of;

the identifier, the website page associated with the identifier, and information associated with the identifier, and

a database configured to receive information relating to the categorized identifier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the upload/download module is configured to download at least a portion of the database to the filtering system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the identifier comprises as least one of:

a request frequency, an indicator, a trace ID, and a primary language.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware memories are collectively configured to store an identifier processing module configured to compare the identifier to information stored in the database to determine if the identifier is categorized.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the categorization module comprises an automated engine configured to categorize the identifier.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the automated engine is configured to determine a statistical probability or a multidimensional vector.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the categorization module uses one of word analysis, adaptive learning systems, and image analysis to categorize the identifier.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the categorization module is further configured to determine whether a human checker is required to review the category of the identifier.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the categorization module comprises a language analyzer configured to determine the language of the website/page associated with the identifier.

10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the information associated with the identifier indicates a frequency at which the identifier is requested by the computer, and wherein the identifier processing module merges and sorts identifiers and associated information received from at least two computers based on the frequency.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to find an identifier through one of:

a domain name system, an internet search engine, mining high trafficked website/page directories, and receiving suggested websites/pages.

12. A method of processing an identifier associated with a website/page accessed by a computer having network access to a wide area network (WAN), the access controlled by a filtering system, the method comprising:

receiving the identifier associated with a website/page accessed by the computer whose network access to the wide area network is controlled by the filtering system;

categorizing the identifier;

adding information relating to the identifier and to the categorization of the identifier to a database; and

downloading at least a portion of the database to a computer, the downloaded portion comprising information relating to the identifier and to the categorization of the identifier.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

processing information associated with the identifier; and

merging and sorting identifiers and information associated with the identifiers from at least two computers.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein an automated engine categorizes the identifier.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein categorizing the identifier comprises performing language analysis to determine the language of the website/page associated with the identifier.

16. A method of categorizing identifiers associated with a website/page, the method comprising:

receiving, via a computer network, collection data;

processing, using one or more electronic processors, the collection data to identify at least one identifier;

processing, using one or more electronic processors, the collection data to identify at least one indication of a frequency of access of the website/page associated with the at least one identifier;

merging and sorting the collection data based on the at least one indication of a frequency of access;

categorizing the identifier based at least in part on the merging and sorting; and

updating a database with the categorized identifier.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising downloading at least a portion of the updated database to a computer.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein processing the collection data comprises decrypting and uncompressing the collection data.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein categorizing the identifier includes receiving categorization input from a human.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the collection data is associated with requested websites/pages.