Mobile URL categorization

• US 10,554,736 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2018
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Chung, Seokkyung, Rostamabadi, Farshad, Hewlett, II, William Redington, Xu, Zhi, Rostami-Hesarsorkh, Shadi, Xu, Lin, Klarich, Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Solomon, Ruth
• Application Number:
  US16/107,564
• Publication Number:
  US 20190014169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Techniques for categorizing mobile uniform resource locators (URLs) that are used by mobile applications are disclosed. A URL is extracted from a mobile application. A category for the URL is determined based on a categorization of the mobile application. The URL and its determined category are then generated as output.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

categorize a mobile application into at least one topical categorization, including by using contextual information associated with the mobile application;

extract a previously uncategorized Uniform Resource Locator (URL) from the mobile application, wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes determining a set of URLs accessed by the mobile application when executed;

assign the topical categorization of the mobile application to the previously uncategorized URL extracted from the mobile application; and

generate as output the URL and its assigned categorization; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes performing static analysis on the mobile application to identify embedded URLs.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes performing dynamic analysis on the mobile application to identify dynamically generated URLs.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile application is categorized at least in part by matching a keyword list against words extracted from the mobile application during static analysis.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing an analysis on a textual description of the mobile application obtained from a mobile application store.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing an analysis of information associated with a developer of the mobile application, wherein the information is obtained from a mobile application store.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing a categorization analysis of applications designated as similar to the mobile application in a mobile application store.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein assigning the category to the previously uncategorized URL includes assigning a severity level.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to include the previously uncategorized URL in a training set.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein using the categorization of the mobile application to assign the category to the previously uncategorized URL includes weighting features.

10. A method, comprising:

categorizing a mobile application into at least one topical categorization, including by using contextual information associated with the mobile application;

extracting a previously uncategorized Uniform Resource Locator (URL) from the mobile application, wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes determining a set of URLs accessed by the mobile application when executed;

assigning the topical categorization of the mobile application to the previously uncategorized URL extracted from the mobile application; and

generating as output the URL and its assigned categorization.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes performing static analysis on the mobile application to identify embedded URLs.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein extracting the previously uncategorized URL includes performing dynamic analysis on the mobile application to identify dynamically generated URLs.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the mobile application is categorized at least in part by matching a keyword list against words extracted from the mobile application during static analysis.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing an analysis on a textual description of the mobile application obtained from a mobile application store.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing an analysis of information associated with a developer of the mobile application, wherein the information is obtained from a mobile application store.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein using the contextual information to categorize the mobile application includes performing a categorization analysis of applications designated as similar to the mobile application in a mobile application store.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein assigning the category to the previously uncategorized URL includes assigning a severity level.

18. The method of claim 10 further comprising including the previously uncategorized URL in a training set.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein using the categorization of the mobile application to assign the category to the previously uncategorized URL includes weighting features.