METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR WEBSITE DATA ACCESS MONITORING

• US 20110209216A1
• Filed: 01/24/2011
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eXelate, Inc. (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: eXelate, Inc. (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Zohar, Meir, Ben-Zvi, Nitzan
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,980 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection

Abstract

In a network comprising number of web sites and at least one simulator web page calls are simulated or monitored and the response to the calls, including content, re-directed calls and cookies are examined in order to identify whether the content of cookies has been written or modified illegally. Illegal modification of content of cookies is referred to as writing of data by a Buyer in cookies of a User that was directed to the Buyer by a Data Publisher, without the consent of the Data Publisher. In some embodiments when illegal cookies are identified an alert may be issued to a user.

Claims

1. In a network comprising plurality of web sites and at least one simulator a method comprising:

calling a web page by simulating a web browser page call;

identifying in received content and cookies if a cookie which is used to store behavioral related information was written by an unauthorized entity, said cookie written by an unauthorized entity being an illegal cookie.

2. In a network comprising plurality of web sites and at least one simulator a method comprising:

a. calling a web page according to definable set of parameters by simulating a web browser page call;

b. identifying in received cookies according to a first definable set of rules a cookie which is used to store behavioral related information and that was written by unauthorized entity, said cookie being an illegal cookie;

c. identifying in received content elements which have to be loaded separately, and

d. for each separately loaded content element repeating steps a-d recursively.

3. The method of claim 2 comprising issuing an alert when an illegal cookie is identified.

4. The method of claim 2 comprising using plurality of simulators located in different geographical locations.

5. The method of claim 4, the network comprising main controller, said main controller:

coordinating the operation of said plurality of simulators;

collecting information indicative of identified illegal cookies;

collecting from said simulators web page calls and respective content and cookies; and

updating said definable set of parameters and said first definable set of rules.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein identification of unauthorized entities is responsive to a predefined list of permitted web sites, said list is a white list.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said calling is performed according to predefined scheduling and frequency parameters.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein said issuing of said alert is performed according to definable alerting method and frequency.

9. The method of claim 5, comprising identifying illegal cookies according to second set of rules.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein said definable set of parameters and said definable set of rules is set by a user.

11. A system comprising:

a network;

plurality of servers providing web sites; and

at least one simulator,

wherein said simulator is adapted to;

a. call a web page according to definable set of parameters by simulating a web browser page call;

b. identify in received cookies according to a first definable set of rules a cookie which is used to store behavioral related information and that was written by unauthorized entity, said cookie is an illegal cookie;

c. identify in received content elements which have to be loaded separately, and

d. for each separately loaded content element repeating steps a-d recursively.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the simulator is to comprising issue an alert when an illegal cookie is identified.

13. The system of claim 11 comprising plurality of simulators located in different geographical locations.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the network comprising main controller, said main controller adapted to:

coordinate the operation of said plurality of simulators;

collect information indicative of identified illegal cookies;

collect from said simulators web page calls and respective content and cookies; and

update said definable set of parameters and said first definable set of rules.

15. The system of claim 11 comprising a list of permitted web.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein said at least one simulator comprises a process manager to control scheduling of said web page calls.

17. The system of claim 11 comprising alert notification unit to issue alerts when illegal cookies is identified according to alert policy.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein said main controller comprising analyzer to analyze illegal cookies based on a second set of parameters.

19. In a network comprising plurality of web sites and at least one user acting as a probe a method comprising:

said probe calling a web page;

identifying in received cookies according to a first definable set of rules a cookie which is used to store behavioral related information and that was written by unauthorized entity, said cookie is an illegal cookie;

identifying in received content elements which have to be loaded separately, and

for each separately loaded content element repeating steps a-d recursively.