ROTATION OF WEB SITE CONTENT TO PREVENT E-MAIL SPAM/PHISHING ATTACKS

• US 20150365434A1
• Filed: 08/20/2015
• Published: 12/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hicken, George, Pilkington, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 10,079,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation is provided. The method includes receiving a request for a variation of a component to be incorporated into a Web page from a requesting Web page rendering engine from over a computer communications network. The method also includes comparing the requested variation of the component to a currently configured variation of the component. Finally, the method includes returning both the requested variation of the component and an alert indicating a possible phishing attack in response to the request if the requested variation of the component differs from the currently configured variation of the component.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A computer program product for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code for storing a plurality of different variations of a single visual Web site component of a Web page;

computer readable program code for modifying each of the different variations of the single visual Web site component to include a visual alert except for one valid variation of the single visual Web site component; and

,

computer readable program code for changing a reference in the Web page from a reference for a modified one of the different variations of the single visual Web site component to a reference for the valid variation of the visual single Web site component, where a request for the Web page from a client computer will return a correct variation of the single visual Web site component without the visual alert, but an outdated variation of the single visual Web site component will return the visual alert indicating a possibly phishing attack.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the reference is a file name of the valid variation of the single visual Web site component.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the visual alert is superimposed over the Web page.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the single visual Web site component is a menu bar for the Web page.

22. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the single visual Web site component is a tool bar for the Web page.

23. A computer program product for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation, the computer program product for comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code for receiving a request for a variation of the visual Web site component be incorporated into a Web page from a requesting Web page rendering engine from over a computer communications network;

computer readable program code for comparing the requested variation of the visual Web site component to a current variation of the visual Web site component to determine whether the requested variation of the visual Web site component differs from the current variation of the visual Web site component; and

,

computer readable program code for returning both the requested variation of the visual Web site component and also a visual alert superimposed over the requested variation of the visual Web site component indicating a possible phishing attack in response to the request upon determining that the requested variation of the visual Web site component differs from the current variation of the visual Web site component.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the computer readable program code for comparing the requested variation of the visual Web site component to the current variation of the visual Web site component, comprises computer readable program code for comparing a uniform resource locator (URL) of the requested variation of the visual Web site component to a URL of the current variation of the visual Web site component.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the visual Web site component is a tool bar for the Web page.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the visual Web site component is a menu bar for the Web page.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the visual alert is a warning message.

28. A Web site content data processing system configured for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation, comprising:

a host computer with at least one processor and a memory;

a Web server coupled to the host computer; and

,

a phishing attack management module executing in the memory of the host computer, the phishing attack management module comprising program code that when executed in the memory of the host computer causes the host computer to;

store a plurality of different variations of a single visual Web site component of a Web page;

modify each of the different variations of the single visual Web site component to include a visual alert except for one valid variation of the single visual Web site component; and

,

change a reference in the Web page from a reference for a modified one of the different variations of the single visual Web site component to a reference for the valid variation of the visual single Web site component, where a request for the Web page from a client computer will return a correct variation of the single visual Web site component without the visual alert, but an outdated variation of the single visual Web site component will return the visual alert indicating a possibly phishing attack.

29. The Web site content data processing system of claim 28, wherein the reference is a file name of the valid variation of the single visual Web site component.

30. The Web site content data processing system of claim 28, wherein the visual alert is superimposed over the Web page.

31. The Web site content data processing system of claim 28, wherein the single visual Web site component is a menu bar for the Web page.

32. The Web site content data processing system of claim 28, wherein the single visual Web site component is a tool bar for the Web page.

33. A Web site content data processing system configured for phishing attack management through Web site content rotation, comprising:

a host computer with at least one processor and a memory;

a Web server coupled to the host computer; and

,

a phishing attack management module executing in the memory of the host computer, the phishing attack management module comprising program code that when executed in the memory of the host computer causes the host computer to;

receive a request for a variation of the visual Web site component be incorporated into a Web page from a requesting Web page rendering engine from over a computer communications network;

compare the requested variation of the visual Web site component to a current variation of the visual Web site component to determine whether the requested variation of the visual Web site component differs from the current variation of the visual Web site component; and

,

return both the requested variation of the visual Web site component and also a visual alert superimposed over the requested variation of the visual Web site component indicating a possible phishing attack in response to the request upon determining that the requested variation of the visual Web site component differs from the current variation of the visual Web site component.

34. The Web site content data processing system of claim 33, wherein the program code to compare the requested variation of the visual Web site component to the current variation of the visual Web site component, comprises program code to compare a uniform resource locator (URL) of the requested variation of the visual Web site component to a URL of the current variation of the visual Web site component.

35. The Web site content data processing system of claim 33, wherein the visual Web site component is a tool bar for the Web page.

36. The Web site content data processing system of claim 33, wherein the visual Web site component is a menu bar for the Web page.

37. The Web site content data processing system of claim 33, wherein the visual alert is a warning message.