Generating a privacy rating for an application or website

• US 9,942,276 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Privacy Factor LLC
• Original Assignee: The Privacy Factor LLC
• Inventors: Sartor, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): PERUNGAVOOR, VENKATANARAY
• Application Number:
  US15/393,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20170111395A1
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and policy rating server device that receives a request from a client computing device for one or more privacy ratings. The request identifies at least one application, such as an application installed on the client computing device for example. A policy associated with the identified application is obtained. The obtained policy is analyzed to identify a plurality of key words or phrases associated with use by the at least one application of functionality of, or personal information stored on, the client computing device. One or more privacy ratings are generated based on numerical values assigned to each of the identified key words or phrases. The generated one or more privacy ratings are output to the client computing device in response to the request.

Claims

1. A method of rating privacy risk, the method comprising:

receiving by a privacy analyzing server device an identifier of an application or website;

identifying by the privacy analyzing server device at least one policy associated with the application or website;

obtaining by the privacy analyzing server device the at least one policy associated with the application or website, the at least one policy being in machine-readable format;

identifying, by the privacy analyzing server device, key words or phrases included in the at least one policy, the identified key words or phrases corresponding to one or more interactions of the application or website, the one or more interactions comprising use of functionality of a computing device or use of personal information;

for each respective key word or phrase identified by the privacy analyzing server device,

determining whether the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned a particular level of privacy risk;

if the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then retrieving the particular level of privacy risk from a database;

if the respective key word or phrase has not been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then

generating a respective level of privacy risk associated with one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase;

assigning to the respective key word or phrase the respective level of privacy risk associated with the one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase; and

storing in the database the respective key word or phrase and the respective level of privacy risk assigned to the respective key word or phrase;

generating by the privacy analyzing server device a privacy rating for the application or website based on the particular levels of privacy risk and on the respective levels of privacy risk assigned to the respective key words or phrases in the at least one policy, the privacy rating indicating a particular level of privacy risk of the application or website; and

storing the privacy rating for the application or website and the at least one policy in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the at least one policy allows a user to opt out of any of the one or more interactions, and wherein the privacy rating for the application or website is further based on the determination.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the privacy rating for the application or website is a privacy rating associated with only a particular privacy category.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one policy includes at least one of a privacy policy, a terms and conditions agreement, a data usage policy, a terms of use policy, a terms of service agreement, permissions, an agreement requiring acceptance prior to execution of the application or website, a social media policy, a website user policy, a customer loyalty program agreement, or a financial services agreement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating recommended actions to lower the particular level of privacy risk of the application or website.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the particular levels of privacy risk and each of the respective levels of privacy risk indicates a relative amount of risk.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the particular levels of privacy risk and each of the respective levels of privacy risk is a numerical value.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the particular levels of privacy risk stored in the database was generated by an administrator.

9. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

memory coupled to the processor; and

program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor, the program instructions when executed by the at least one processor for causing the at least one processor to perform the steps of;

receiving by a privacy analyzing server device an identifier of an application or web site;

identifying by the privacy analyzing server device at least one policy associated with the application or website;

obtaining by the privacy analyzing server device the at least one policy associated with the application or website, the at least one policy being in machine-readable format;

identifying, by the privacy analyzing server device, key words or phrases included in the at least one policy, the identified key words or phrases corresponding to one or more interactions of the application or website, the one or more interactions comprising use of functionality of a computing device or use of personal information;

for each respective key word or phrase identified by the privacy analyzing server device,

determining whether the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned a particular level of privacy risk;

if the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then retrieving the particular level of privacy risk from a database;

if the respective key word or phrase has not been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then

generating a respective level of privacy risk associated with one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase;

assigning to the respective key word or phrase the respective level of privacy risk associated with the one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase; and

storing in the database the respective key word or phrase and the respective level of privacy risk assigned to the respective key word or phrase;

generating by the privacy analyzing server device a privacy rating for the application or website based on the particular levels of privacy risk and on the respective levels of privacy risk assigned to the respective key words or phrases in the at least one policy, the privacy rating indicating a particular level of privacy risk of the application or website; and

storing the privacy rating for the application or website and the at least one policy in the database.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the program instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to perform the step of determining whether the at least one policy allows a user to opt out of any of the one or more interactions, and wherein the privacy rating for the application or website is further based on the determination.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the privacy rating for the application or website is a privacy rating associated with only a particular privacy category.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one policy includes at least one of a privacy policy, a terms and conditions agreement, a data usage policy, a terms of use policy, a terms of service agreement, permissions, an agreement requiring acceptance prior to execution of the application or website, a social media policy, a website user policy, a customer loyalty program agreement, or a financial services agreement.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the program instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to generate recommended actions to lower the particular level of privacy risk of the application or website.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the particular levels of privacy risk and each of the respective levels of privacy risk indicates a relative amount of risk.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the particular levels of privacy risk and each of the respective levels of privacy risk is a numerical value.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the particular levels of privacy risk stored in the database was generated by an administrator.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving by a privacy analyzing server device an identifier of an application or website;

identifying by the privacy analyzing server device at least one policy associated with the application or website;

obtaining by the privacy analyzing server device the at least one policy associated with the application or website, the at least one policy being in machine-readable format;

identifying, by the privacy analyzing server device, key words or phrases included in the at least one policy, the identified key words or phrases corresponding to one or more interactions of the application or website, the one or more interactions comprising use of functionality of a computing device or use of personal information;

for each respective key word or phrase identified by the privacy analyzing server device,

determining whether the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned a particular level of privacy risk;

if the respective key word or phrase has been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then retrieving the particular level of privacy risk from a database;

if the respective key word or phrase has not been previously assigned the particular level of privacy risk, then

generating a respective level of privacy risk associated with one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase;

assigning to the respective key word or phrase the respective level of privacy risk associated with the one or more particular interactions of the application or website corresponding to the respective key word or phrase; and

storing in the database the respective key word or phrase and the respective level of privacy risk assigned to the respective key word or phrase;

generating by the privacy analyzing server device a privacy rating for the application or website based on the particular levels of privacy risk and on the respective levels of privacy risk assigned to the respective key words or phrases in the at least one policy, the privacy rating indicating a particular level of privacy risk of the application or website; and

storing the privacy rating for the application or website and the at least one policy in the database.