Disablement of lost or stolen device

• US 9,558,372 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2015
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Tucker, Nicholas Bradley
• Primary Examiner(s): Homayounmehr, Farid
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUCKNOR, OLANREWAJU J
• Application Number:
  US14/657,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20160267298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/71 to assure secure computing or processing of information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss

Abstract

Active disablement of a target device that is reported as lost or stolen, even if the device no longer has a cellular link. A service assembles a list of target devices that have been reported as lost or stolen, and transmits at least a subset of the assembled list of target devices to candidate proximate systems. If one of the candidate proximate system receives an identification signal from a target device that is on the received list, the proximate system commands the target device to at least partially disable itself. The target device then disables as commanded, and the proximate system may acknowledge the same to the service.

Claims

1. A method for issuing a command to disable functionality of a target device that is suspected of being lost or stolen, the method being implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, the method comprising:

receiving information corresponding to a target device that has been reported as being lost or stolen, wherein the received information at least includes a last known location of the target device;

based on the received information, selecting one or more candidate systems that are identified as having previously shared a relationship with the target device, wherein which candidate systems are included within the selected one or more candidate systems is determined by;

identifying a search area that includes a first subset of candidate systems and that corresponds to the last known location of the target device;

determining an approximate amount of time that has passed since the target device was lost or stolen; and

based at least partially on the approximate amount of time that has passed, increasing a size of the search area such that the search area includes a second subset of candidate systems, the second subset at least including the first subset;

receiving, from at least one of the one or more candidate systems, an identification signal that was sent from the target device to the at least one candidate system; and

in response to receiving the identification signal from the at least one candidate system, initiating delivery of an active disable command to the target device, the active disable command being structured to be interpretable by the target device as a mandatory instruction to actively disable at least some functionality of the target device in a manner that persists across subsequent resets of the target device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving confirmation that the active disable command has been performed on the target device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reporting, to a predetermined system, a performance of the active disable command on the target device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reporting to a predetermined system regarding an estimated location of the target device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the active disable command is a software reinstall command that is structured to be interpretable by the target device as instructing a software reinstall on the target device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the active disable command is a software downgrade command that is structured to be interpretable by the target device as instructing a software downgrade on the target device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the active disable command is a software removal command that is structured to be interpretable by the target device as instructing a software removal on the target device.

8. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors and that cause the computer system to issue a command to disable functionality of a target device that is suspected of being lost or stolen by causing the computer system to;

receive information corresponding to the target device, wherein the received information at least includes a last known location of the target device;

based on the received information, select one or more candidate systems that are identified as having previously shared a relationship with the target device, wherein which candidate systems are included within the selected one or more candidate systems is at least partially determined by;

identifying a search area that includes a first subset of candidate systems and that corresponds to the last known location of the target device;

determining an approximate amount of time that has passed since the target device was lost or stolen; and

based at least partially on the approximate amount of time that has passed, increasing a size of the search area such that the search area includes a second subset of candidate systems, the second subset at least including the first subset;

receive, from at least one of the one or more candidate systems, an identification signal that was sent from the target device to the at least one candidate system; and

in response to receiving the identification signal from the at least one candidate system, deliver an active disable command to the target device, the active disable command being persistable across a subsequent reset of the target device.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the target device is identified as possibly being lost or stolen based on one or more factors.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the one or more factors are selected from a group comprising:

a number of failed login attempts of the target device; and

whether the target device has checked in with a particular service.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein subsequent resets of the target device include:

turning the target device off and on;

restoring the target device to factory settings; and

reformatting the target device with a different version or different type of operating system.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein which candidate systems are included within the selected one or more candidate systems is also at least partially determined by:

identifying a second subset of candidate devices, wherein each candidate device in the second subset is owned by an acquaintance of an owner of the target device.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

after delivering the active disable command to the target device, receive an updated estimated location of the target device.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the updated estimated location of the target device is received from the target device.

15. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the shared relationship between the selected one or more candidate systems and the target device is based on a common geographic region.

16. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the active disable command is configured such that the active disable command is persistable to a storage of the target device.

17. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the received information corresponding to the target device includes a list that details a plurality of devices which have been identified as possibly being lost or stolen, and wherein, after the active disable command is delivered to the target device, the list is updated.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein updating the list includes updating a state of the target device that is included within the list such that the target device is no longer searched for when the list is propagated to other computer systems.

19. One or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a computer system and that cause the computer system to issue a command to disable functionality of a target device that is suspected of being lost or stolen by causing the computer system to:

receive information corresponding to the target device, wherein the received information at least includes a last known location of the target device;

based on the received information, select one or more candidate systems that are identified as having previously shared a relationship with the target device, wherein which candidate systems are included within the selected one or more candidate systems is determined by;

identifying a search area that includes a first subset of candidate systems and that corresponds to the last known location of the target device;

determining an approximate amount of time that has passed since the target device was lost or stolen; and

based at least partially on the approximate amount of time that has passed, increasing a size of the search area such that the search area includes a second subset of candidate systems, the second subset at least including the first subset;

receive, from at least one of the one or more candidate systems, an identification signal that was sent from the target device to the at least one candidate system; and

in response to receiving the identification signal from the at least one candidate system, deliver an active disable command to the target device, the active disable command being persistable across a subsequent reset of the target device.

20. The one or more hardware storage devices of claim 19, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

after delivering the active disable command to the target device, receive, from the target device, an updated estimated location of the target device.