Security systems and methods for encoding and decoding digital content

• US 9,946,898 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2015
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ESW Holdings, Inc. (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Original Assignee: ESW Holdings, Inc. (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Inventors: Sprague, Steven, Sprague, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): ZHAO, DON GORDON
• Application Number:
  US14/689,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20170243029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/34 Encoding or coding, e.g. Huffman coding or error correction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Systems and methods may be provided for masking data on public networks, such as social networking sites. At a publishing node, the system may monitor data input fields in a webpage, and intercept and encode content, such as text, images, and video input at the data input fields, prior to the content being posted online on a public service provider'"'"'s website. A privacy agent may process input field content to try to detect encoding markers in the input field content, which define portions of the content that are to be encoded. A third party key server may be used to store decoding keys. A URI reference to the decoding key may be used to access the decoding key by a node attempting to view the decoded version of the input field content.

Claims

1. A method of controlling digital content on a third party webpage, the method comprising:

executing instructions, stored in a non-transitory memory, by one or more processors of a computer system that cause the computer system to perform operations comprising;

using a listener, detecting when an executing browser is about to display a third party webpage by a viewing node;

in response to detecting that the third party webpage is about to be displayed, parsing the third party webpage to detect whether the third party webpage includes an encoded version of input form field content that has been inserted into the third party webpage by a client application executing on the viewing node and configured to enable a user to have control of at least portions of content published via the input form field at the third party webpage;

enabling the viewing node to have content control over at least a portion of the third party webpage by decoding the encoded version of the input form field content included in the third party webpage by;

requesting a decoding key to facilitate decoding of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage, the decoding key request being transmitted to a policy node for processing, where the decoding key request includes session attributes about the viewing node to facilitate a determination by the policy node as to whether the viewing node is authorized to access the decoded version of the input form field content; and

receiving, from a policy node, a universal resource identifier (URI) reference to the decoding key; and

using the decoding URI reference, requesting, from the third party key node, access to the decoding key to facilitate replacement of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content with a decoded version of the input form field content.

2. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the encoded version of the input form field content is an encoded form of input received at an input form field in the third party webpage, the third party webpage being a portion of a web site.

3. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the decoding key URI reference is transmitted from the policy node in response to a request from the viewing node to access the decoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage.

4. The method of controlling digital content of claim 3 further including:

receiving, at the policy node, the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content;

processing, at the policy node, session attributes about the viewing node to verify its credentials to determine whether it is authorized to view the decoded version of the input form field content; and

responding to the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content by transmitting, to the viewing node, a message including the decoding key URI reference at the third party key node.

5. The method of controlling digital content of claim 3 wherein the message including the decoding key URI reference is transmitted to the viewing node in response to the policy node verifying the credentials of the viewing node and, determining that the viewing node satisfies terms of a decoding policy associated with the input form field content.

6. The method of controlling digital content of claim 5 wherein the decoding policy specifies a least one group having one or more users that is permitted to access the decoded version of the encoded input form field content.

7. The method of controlling digital content of claim 3 wherein the decoding key URI reference enables decoding at the viewing node of only a portion of the encoded input form field content, while other portions of the input form field content remain encoded.

8. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the decoding key URI reference is a link to the decoding key at the third party key node.

9. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the decoding key URI reference permits only the viewing node to access the decoding key at the third party key node.

10. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the client application executing at the viewing node responds to receipt of the decoding key by:

accessing a document object model (DOM) tree associated with the third party webpage to modify and replace instances of the encoded version of the input form field content with the decoded version of the input form field content; and

directing the browser to draw the modified third party webpage at the viewing node.

11. The method of controlling digital content of claim 1 wherein the third party key node is controlled by an independent entity having sovereign control over the decoding key.

12. A computer program product for controlling digital content, the computer program product being embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and comprising code configured when executed by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

using a listener, detecting when an executing browser is about to display a third party webpage by a viewing node;

in response to detecting that the third party webpage is about to be displayed, parsing the third party webpage to detect whether the third party webpage includes an encoded version of input form field content that has been inserted into the third party webpage by a client application executing on the viewing node and configured to enable a user to have control of at least portions of content published via the input form field at the third party webpage;

enabling the viewing node to have content control over at least a portion of the third party webpage by decoding the encoded version of the input form field content included in the third party webpage by;

requesting a decoding key to facilitate decoding of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage, the decoding key request being transmitted to a policy node for processing, where the decoding key request includes session attributes about the viewing node to facilitate a determination by the policy node as to whether the viewing node is authorized to access the decoded version of the input form field content; and

receiving, from a policy node, a universal resource identifier (URI) reference to the decoding key; and

using the decoding URI reference, requesting, from the third party key node, access to the decoding key to facilitate replacement of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content with a decoded version of the input form field content.

13. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 12 wherein the encoded version of the input form field content is an encoded form of input received at an input form field in the third party webpage, the third party webpage being a portion of a web site.

14. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 12 wherein the decoding key URI reference is transmitted from the policy node in response to a request from the viewing node to access the decoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage.

15. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 14, wherein the code is further configured when executed by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the policy node, the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content;

processing, at the policy node, session attributes about the viewing node to verify its credentials to determine whether it is authorized to view the decoded version of the input form field content; and

responding to the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content by transmitting, to the viewing node, a message including the decoding key URI reference at the third party key node.

16. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 14 wherein the message including the decoding key URI reference is transmitted to the viewing node in response to the policy node verifying the credentials of the viewing node and, determining that the viewing node satisfies terms of a decoding policy associated with the input form field content.

17. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 16 wherein the decoding policy specifies a least one group having one or more users that is permitted to access the decoded version of the encoded input form field content.

18. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 14 wherein the decoding key URI reference enables decoding at the viewing node of only a portion of the encoded input form field content, while other portions of the input form field content remain encoded.

19. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 12 wherein the decoding key URI reference is a link to the decoding key at the third party key node.

20. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 12 wherein the decoding key URI reference permits only the viewing node to access the decoding key at the third party key node.

21. The computer program product for controlling digital content of claim 12 wherein the third party key node is controlled by an independent entity having sovereign control over the decoding key.

22. A system for controlling digital content, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory memory, coupled to the one or more processors, the memory comprising code stored in the memory, wherein the code is configured when executed by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

using a listener, detecting when an executing browser is about to display a third party webpage by a viewing node;

in response to detecting that the third party webpage is about to be displayed, parsing the third party webpage to detect whether the third party webpage includes an encoded version of input form field content that has been inserted into the third party webpage by a client application executing on the viewing node and configured to enable a user to have control of at least portions of content published via the input form field at the third party webpage;

enabling the viewing node to have content control over at least a portion of the third party webpage by decoding the encoded version of the input form field content included in the third party webpage by;

requesting a decoding key to facilitate decoding of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage, the decoding key request being transmitted to a policy node for processing, where the decoding key request includes session attributes about the viewing node to facilitate a determination by the policy node as to whether the viewing node is authorized to access the decoded version of the input form field content; and

receiving, from a policy node, a universal resource identifier (URI) reference to the decoding key; and

using the decoding URI reference, requesting, from the third party key node, access to the decoding key to facilitate replacement of at least portions of the encoded version of the input form field content with a decoded version of the input form field content.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the encoded version of the input form field content is an encoded form of input received at an input form field in the third party webpage, the third party webpage being a portion of a web site.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the decoding key URI reference is transmitted from the policy node in response to a request from the viewing node to access the decoded version of the input form field content in the third party webpage.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the code is further configured when executed by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the policy node, the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content;

processing, at the policy node, session attributes about the viewing node to verify its credentials to determine whether it is authorized to view the decoded version of the input form field content; and

responding to the viewing node'"'"'s request to access the decoded version of the input form field content by transmitting, to the viewing node, a message including the decoding key URI reference at the third party key node.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the message including the decoding key URI reference is transmitted to the viewing node in response to the policy node verifying the credentials of the viewing node and, determining that the viewing node satisfies terms of a decoding policy associated with the input form field content.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the decoding policy specifies a least one group having one or more users that is permitted to access the decoded version of the encoded input form field content.

28. The system of claim 24 wherein the decoding key URI reference enables decoding at the viewing node of only a portion of the encoded input form field content, while other portions of the input form field content remain encoded.

29. The system of claim 22 wherein the decoding key URI reference is a link to the decoding key at the third party key node.

30. The system of claim 22 wherein the decoding key URI reference permits only the viewing node to access the decoding key at the third party key node.

31. The system of claim 22 wherein the third party key node is controlled by an independent entity having sovereign control over the decoding key.