Visualization of trust in an address bar

• US 9,838,380 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2016
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Inventors: Sauve, Aaron J., Van Dok, Cornelis K., Silbey, Marc A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Tongoc
• Application Number:
  US15/065,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20170026363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

Described are a system and method for presenting security information about a current site or communications session. Briefly stated, a browsing software is configured to receive a certificate during a negotiation of a secure session between a local device and a remote device. The certificate includes security information about a site maintained at the remote device. The security information is displayed to a user of the browsing software in a meaningful fashion to allow the user to make a trust determination about the site. Displaying the security information may include presenting a certificate summary that includes the most relevant information about the certificate, such as the name of the owner of the site and the name of the certificating authority of the certificate.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a processing unit; and

a system memory storing instructions that, when executed via the processing unit, cause the computing device to perform operations to provide trust visualizations for content accessed by the computing device, the operations including;

rendering content corresponding to a universal resource locator (URL) that identifies a network location at which the content is available, the content rendered via a graphical interface for a program module exposed by the computing device; and

displaying a visual indication of trust associated with the content, the visual indication of trust being displayed via an address bar area provided by the graphical interface, the address bar area including;

a protocol portion to present the URL corresponding to the content, and

a security portion to present, separately from the URL, the visual indication of trust.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the visual indication of trust includes information from a certificate issued by a certificating authority.

3. The computing device of claim 1, the operations further including presenting, via the security portion of the address bar area, a name of a verified entity as determined from a corresponding certificate issued by a certificating authority.

4. The computing device of claim 1, the operations further including displaying, responsive to a user action of hovering over the security portion of the address bar area, a summary of a certificate issued by a certificating authority.

5. The computing device of claim 1, the operations further including displaying, responsive to a user action of hovering over the security portion of the address bar area, a prompt to select the security portion of the address bar area to view a corresponding certificate issued by a certificating authority.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the visual indication of trust is based on a certificate issued by a certificating authority, the certificate being associated with the network location, and wherein the operations further include presenting, in the security portion of the address bar area, information from the certificate.

7. The computing device of claim 1, the operations further including displaying, responsive to a selection of the security portion, additional security information corresponding to the content via a user interface element exposed adjacent to the address bar area.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the user interface element is a drop-down box adjacent to the address bar area.

9. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the additional security information comprises a name of an entity that issued a certificate associated with the content corresponding to the URL.

10. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the additional security information comprises information regarding expiration of a certificate associated with the content corresponding to the URL.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the visual indication of trust comprises a name of an entity associated with the content corresponding to the URL.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the address bar area comprises a first box with the protocol portion adjacent to, and in-line with, a second box with the security portion.

13. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the visual indication of trust provides an indication regarding validity of a certificate corresponding with the content.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations to provide trust visualizations for content accessed by the one or more computing devices, the operations comprising:

rendering content corresponding to a universal resource locator (URL) that identifies a network location at which the content is available, the content rendered via a graphical interface for a program module exposed by the one or more computing devices; and

displaying a visual indication of trust associated with the content, the visual indication of trust being displayed via an address bar area provided by the graphical interface, the address bar area including;

a protocol portion to present the URL corresponding to the content, and

a security portion to present, separately from the URL, the visual indication of trust.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14, the operations further comprising presenting, via the security portion of the address bar area, a name of a verified entity as determined from a corresponding certificate issued by a certificating authority.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14, the operations further comprising displaying, responsive to a selection of the security portion, additional security information corresponding to the content via a user interface element exposed adjacent to the address bar area.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the security information comprises at least one informational element selected from a group consisting of:

an icon, a color, and a name of an entity associated with the content.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the additional security information comprises at least one informational element selected from a group consisting of:

a name of an entity that issued a certificate associated with the content, and information regarding expiration of a certificate associated with the content.

19. A computer-implemented method for providing trust visualizations for content accessed via a computing device, the method comprising:

retrieving content corresponding to a universal resource locator (URL) that identifies a network location at which the content is available, and rendering the content via a graphical interface for a program module exposed by the one or more computing devices; and

displaying a visual indication of trust associated with the content based on a certificate issued by a certificating authority, the visual indication of trust being displayed via an address bar area provided by the graphical interface, the address bar area including;

a protocol portion to present the URL corresponding to the content, and

a security portion to present, separately from the URL, the visual indication of trust.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising presenting, via the security portion of the address bar area, a name of a verified entity as determined from a corresponding certificate issued by a certificating authority.