Disabling applications on a client device remotely

• US 10,667,136 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2017
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Little, Mark Cameron
• Primary Examiner(s): Paliwal, Yogesh
• Application Number:
  US15/411,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20180212981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/67 Risk-dependent, e.g. selecting a security level depending on risk profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Systems and methods for disabling applications on a client device remotely are disclosed. An example method may comprise establishing, via a network interface device, a communication connection with a client computing device, receiving, via the communication connection, a list of applications installed on the client computing device, comparing the received list of applications to a blacklist of applications, identifying, in view of the comparing, an installed application on the received list of applications, the installed application comprised in the blacklist of applications, identifying a severity score corresponding to the installed application and an action corresponding to the severity score, and responsive to the identifying the severity score and the corresponding action, causing, by the processing device, the corresponding action to be performed with respect to the client computing device, the corresponding action pertaining to the installed application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, by a processing device of a server computing device via a network interface device, a communication connection with a client computing device, wherein the communication connection comprises a request to access an application store maintained by the server computing device;

receiving, via the communication connection, a list of applications installed on the client computing device, wherein receiving the list of applications is part of a handshake protocol associated with the request to access the application store, wherein the list of applications received from the client computing device is maintained in a data store associated with the server computing device;

comparing, by the processing device, the received list of applications to a blacklist of applications maintained by the server computing device, wherein each application in the blacklist is associated with a severity score that differs among the applications on the blacklist according to a measure of invasiveness of the respective application;

identifying, in view of the comparing, an installed application on the received list of applications, the installed application comprised in the blacklist of applications;

identifying, by the processing device, the severity score corresponding to the installed application;

identifying an action of a plurality of actions, the action corresponding to a value of the severity score, wherein the plurality of actions corresponding to respective ranges of values of the severity score;

responsive to the identifying of the severity score and the corresponding action, causing, by the processing device, the corresponding action to be performed with respect to the client computing device, the corresponding action pertaining to the installed application; and

referencing, on a periodic basis, the blacklist of applications with the list of applications of the client computing device in the data store to identify whether there is an application match between the list of applications and the blacklist of applications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of applications comprises versions of each application in the list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the blacklist of applications is maintained in a data store associated with the server computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity score comprises a measure of invasiveness of the installed application, the measure of invasiveness based on known unsanctioned interactions of the installed application with computing devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises at least one of executing instructions to disable the installed application, executing instructions to uninstall the installed application, or generating a notification with regard to the installed application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a pop-up notification, a banner notification, an email message, a short message service (SMS) message, an enhanced messaging service (EMS) message, or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message.

7. A system comprising, a memory;

a network interface device; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and the network interface device, the processor to;

establish, via the network interface device, a communication connection with a client computing device, wherein the communication connection comprises a request to access an application store maintained by the server computing device;

receive, via the communication connection, a list of applications installed on the client computing device, wherein receiving the list of applications is part of a handshake protocol associated with the request to access the application store,

wherein the list of applications received from the client computing device is maintained in a data store associated with the server computing device;

determine that an installed application on the received list of applications is comprised in a blacklist of applications, wherein each application in the blacklist is associated with a severity score that differs among the applications on the blacklist according to a measure of invasiveness of the respective application;

identify the severity score corresponding to the installed application;

identify an action of a plurality of actions, the action corresponding to a value of the severity score, wherein the plurality of actions corresponding to respective ranges of values of the severity score;

responsive to the identifying of the severity score and the corresponding action, transmit instructions to the client computing device, the instructions to cause the corresponding action to be performed at the client computing device; and

reference, on a periodic basis, the blacklist of applications with the list of applications of the client computing device in the data store to identify whether there is an application match between the list of applications and the blacklist of applications.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the blacklist of applications is maintained in a data store associated with the system.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the severity score comprises a measure of invasiveness of the installed application, the measure of invasiveness based on known unsanctioned interactions of the installed application with computing devices.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the action comprises at least one of executing instructions to disable the installed application, executing instructions to uninstall the installed application, or generating a notification with regard to the installed application.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a pop-up notification, a banner notification, an email message, a short message service (SMS) message, an enhanced messaging service (EMS) message, or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a processing device to:

establishing, by a processing device of a client computing device via a network interface device, a communication connection with a server computing device, wherein the communication connection enables access to an application store maintained by the server computing device, wherein the server computing device maintaining a blacklist of applications, wherein each application in the blacklist is associated with a severity score that differs among the applications on the blacklist according to a measure of invasiveness of the respective application, and wherein accessing a list of applications installed on the client computing device is part of a handshake protocol associated with a request to access the application store;

transmit, via the communication connection to the server computing device, a list of applications installed on the client computing device;

receive, at the client computing device, instructions to cause an action to be performed on the client computing device, the action corresponding to an installed application on the client computing device that is identified in the blacklist of applications maintained by the server computing device and the action corresponding to the severity score of the identified application in the blacklist; and

executing, by the processing device, the instructions to cause the action to be performed, the action pertaining to the installed application;

wherein the list of applications installed on the client computing device is maintained in a data store associated with the server computing device, and wherein the blacklist of applications is referenced, on a periodic basis, with the list of applications of the client computing device in the data store to identify whether there is an application match between the list of applications and the blacklist of applications.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the severity score comprises a measure of invasiveness of the installed application, the measure of invasiveness based on known unsanctioned interactions of the installed application with computing devices.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions are executed by the processing device subject to preferences configured for the client computing device with respect to disabling and uninstalling applications of the client computing device.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the action comprises at least one of executing instructions to disable the installed application, executing instructions to uninstall the installed application, or generating a notification with regard to the installed application.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a pop-up notification, a banner notification, an email message, a short message service (SMS) message, an enhanced messaging service (EMS) message, or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the blacklist of applications is maintained in a data store associated with the system.