Secure messaging

• US 9,645,789 B1
• Filed: 09/17/2012
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Michael M., Jayaraj, Nagendra Bage
• Primary Examiner(s): Reza, Mohammad W
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, KHOI V
• Application Number:
  US13/621,820
• Time in Patent Office: 1,695 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2113 Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2139 Recurrent verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/00 Television systems details H04N3/00, H04N5/00; methods or arrangements, for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00; selective content distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication

Abstract

Approaches are described for securely sending, receiving, or otherwise processing communications between electronic devices. A communication can be received at a computing device (such as a mobile phone). The communication can include information captured about a person initiating the communication such as an image of the user, voice data of the user, typing pattern information of the user, or any other information that can be used to identify the user generating the communication. The information can be compared against profile data (e.g., contact information such as a phone number or name of the sender) associated with or otherwise stored for an indicated sender of the communication to generate a confidence value, where the confidence value can be used to indicate that the person initiating the communication is the indicated sender.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for enabling secure communications between computing devices, the method comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving, at a first computing device associated with an intended receiver, a communication from a second computing device associated with an indicated sender, the communication associated with information about an actual sender of the communication captured by the second computing device at an approximate time of generating the communication, the information including at least one of an image of the actual sender, voice data captured of the actual sender, or typing pattern information of the actual sender;

identifying, using the communication, profile data associated with the indicated sender;

determining a level of similarity between the information of the actual sender and the profile data associated with the indicated sender;

generating a confidence value for the communication based on the level of similarity, the confidence value represents a metric that indicates a likelihood that the actual sender is same as the indicated sender, wherein an increase in the level of similarity corresponds to an increase in the confidence value;

determining the confidence value is less than a threshold value;

receiving additional information about the actual sender;

modifying the confidence value based at least in part on the additional information; and

displaying, by the first computing device, the communication and a graphical indication of the confidence value.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the first computing device, a request for authentication of the intended receiver to display the communication;

receiving identification information about the intended receiver at the first computing device; and

causing, based at least in part on the identification information, the communication to be displayed at the first computing device.

3. A computer implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving, at a first computing device associated with an intended receiver, a communication from a second computing device associated with an indicated sender, the communication including information about an actual sender of the communication captured by the second computing device at an approximate time of generating the communication;

identifying, using the communication, data associated with the indicated sender;

determining a level of similarity between the information of the actual sender and the data associated with the indicated sender of the communication;

generating a confidence value for the communication based on the level of similarity, the confidence value represents a metric that indicates a likelihood the actual sender is same as the indicated sender, wherein an increase in the level of similarity corresponds to an increase in the confidence value;

determining the confidence value is less than a threshold value;

requesting additional information about the actual sender;

modifying the confidence value based at least in part on the additional information; and

displaying, by the first computing device, the communication and a graphical indication of the confidence value.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the information captured by the second computing device includes at least one of an image of the actual sender, voice data captured of the actual sender, a location of the actual sender, a time stamp corresponding to the approximate time, or typing pattern information of the actual sender.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating a request for the additional information, the request to be communicated to the actual sender of the communication.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of communications from the second computing device, each communication including information captured by the second computing device about the actual sender of said each communication;

generating an additional confidence value for each of the plurality of communications;

determining, based at least in part on the additional confidence value for each of the plurality of communications, a baseline confidence value for a subsequent communication from the second computing device, the subsequent communication includes information captured by the second computing device; and

displaying, by the first computing device, the subsequent communication and a second graphical indication of the baseline confidence value.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing at least one user-selectable element that corresponds to a plurality of options associated with the graphical indication of the confidence value;

receiving a selection of the at least one user-selectable element indicative of one of the plurality of options; and

performing the one of the plurality of options.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

retrieving data from one of a third party network, a remote database, and one or more computing devices.

9. A computing system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive, at a first computing device associated with an intended receiver, a communication from a second computing device associated with an indicated sender, the communication including information about an actual sender of the communication captured by the second computing device at an approximate time of generating the communication;

identify, using the communication, data associated with the indicated sender;

determine a level of similarity between the information of the actual sender and the data associated with the indicated sender of the communication;

generate a confidence value for the communication based on the level of similarity, the confidence value represents a metric that indicates a likelihood the actual sender is same as the indicated sender, wherein an increase in the level of similarity corresponds to an increase in the confidence level;

determine the confidence value is less than a threshold value;

request additional information about the actual sender;

modify the confidence value based at least in part on the additional information; and

display, by the first computing device, the communication and a graphical indication of the confidence value.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the information captured by the second computing device includes at least one of an image of the actual sender, a location of the actual sender, a time stamp corresponding to the approximate time, voice data captured of the actual sender, or typing pattern information of the actual sender.

11. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor receives the communication and determines the level of similarity locally on the first computing device.

12. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:

receive a request for authentication of the intended receiver to view the communication;

receive identification information about the intended receiver; and

cause, based at least in part on the input of the identification information, display of the communication at the first computing device.

13. The computing system of claim 9, wherein a third party network receives the information captured by the second computing device, determines the level of similarity, and provides the graphical indication of the confidence value to the first computing device.

14. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:

generate a request for the additional information, the request to be communicated to the actual sender of the communication.

15. The computing system of claim 9, wherein instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:

provide at least one user-selectable element that corresponds to a plurality of options associated with the graphical indication of the confidence value;

receive a selection of the at least one user-selectable element indicative of one of the plurality of options; and

perform the one of the plurality of options.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a set of operations comprising:

receiving, at a first computing device associated with an intended receiver, a communication from a second computing device associated with an indicated sender, the communication including information about an actual sender of the communication captured by the second computing device at an approximate time of generating the communication;

identifying, using the communication, data associated with the indicated sender;

determining a level of similarity between the information of the actual sender and the data associated with the indicated sender of the communication;

generating a confidence value for the communication based on the level of similarity, the confidence value represents a metric that indicates a likelihood that the actual sender is same as the indicated sender, wherein an increase in the level of similarity corresponds to an increase in the confidence value;

determining the confidence value is less than a threshold value;

receiving additional information about the actual sender;

modifying the confidence value based at least in part on the additional information; and

displaying, by the first computing device, the communication and a graphical indication of the confidence value.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:

receiving, at the first computing device, a request for authentication of the intended receiver to receive the communication;

receiving identification information about the intended receiver at the first computing device; and

causing, based at least in part on the identification information, the communication to be displayed at the first computing device.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:

retrieving data associated with the indicated sender from one of a third party network, a remote database, or one or more computing devices.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:

comparing the confidence value to the threshold value; and

generating a request for additional information, the request to be communicated to the actual sender of the communication.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:

retrieving additional information associated with the actual sender of the communication, wherein the additional information is one of a location of the actual sender or a time stamp corresponding to the approximate time.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the information captured by the second computing device includes at least one of an image of the actual sender, voice data captured of the actual sender, or typing pattern information of the actual sender.

22. A computing system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

generate a communication for an indicated sender associated with a second computing device for delivery to a first computing device associated with an intended receiver, the communication including information about an actual sender of the communication captured at an approximate time of generating the communication;

identify, using the communication, data associated with the indicated sender;

determine a level of similarity between the information of the actual sender and the data associated with the indicated sender of the communication;

generate a confidence value for the communication based on the level of similarity, the confidence value represents a metric that indicates a likelihood that the actual sender of the communication is the indicated sender, wherein an increase in the level of similarity corresponds to an increase in the confidence value;

determining the confidence value is less than a threshold value;

receiving additional information about the actual sender;

modifying the confidence value based at least in part on the additional information; and

send the communication and the confidence value to the first computing device to cause the first computing device to display the communication and a graphical indication of the confidence value.

23. The computing system of claim 22, wherein the information captured about the actual sender includes at least one of an image of the actual sender, a location of the actual sender, a time stamp corresponding to the approximate time, voice data captured of the actual sender, or typing pattern information of the actual sender.

24. The computing system of claim 22, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:

generate a request for the additional information, the request to be communicated to the actual sender of the communication.