Method and apparatus for intercepting events in a communication system

• US 7,441,271 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2005
• Issued: 10/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fiatal, Trevor, Sutaria, Jay, Nanjundeswaran, Sridhar, Bavadekar, Shailesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Moise, Emmanuel L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abyaneh, Ali S
• APPLICATION: US 20060093135A1
• Time in patent office: 1097 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22, 455/405, 380/250, 380/247, 713/150
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for supporting authentication of entities communicating through a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0827 involving distinctive intermediate devices or communication paths network architectures or network communication protocols using different networks H04L63/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

An intercept system provides more effective and more efficient compliance with legal intercept warrants. The intercept system can provide any combination of operations that include near-real-time intercept, capture of intercepted data in structured authenticated form, clear text intercept for communications where there is access to encryption keys, cipher text intercept for communications where there is no access to encryption keys, provision of transactional logs to the authorized agency, interception without altering the operation of the target services, and encryption of stored intercepted information.

Claims

1. A method for intercepting data, comprising:

receiving, at a management server, a connection from a remote client, the connection being initiated by the remote client and established outbound from the remote client;

negotiating a point-to-point encryption scheme with a remote mobile device, the point-to-point encryption scheme negotiated between the management server and the mobile device;

receiving, at the management server, a warrant identifier for a warrant authorizing a legal intercept;

receiving, at the management server, a user identifier identifying an intercept target for the legal intercept associated with the warrant, the intercept target corresponding to the mobile device;

automatically intercepting, at the management server, data received and/or sent by the intercept target identified by the user identifier, wherein the data is intercepted without altering operation of target services that operate on the mobile device;

inspecting packets having the intercepted data to distinguish end-to-end encrypted channel information from other channel information that is encrypted according to the point-to-point encryption scheme negotiated with the mobile device;

preserving encryption that is included on the end-to-end encrypted channel information when received while removing encryption that is included on at least a portion of the other channel information, said other channel information decrypted using a key obtained during the point-to-point encryption scheme negotiation; and

transferring both the decrypted other channel information and the end-to-end channel information from the management server to a remote computer, wherein the management server encrypts at least one of the end-to-end channel information and the decrypted other channel information before said transferring.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the encryption that is included on the end-to-end encrypted channel information uses a security association that is kept secret from the management server such that the end-to-end encrypted channel information is kept private with respect to employees associated with the management server.

3. The method according to claim 1 including:

combining, at the management device, the end-to-end encrypted channel information of the intercepted data with the decrypted other channel information of the intercepted data in a same log file.

4. The method according to claim 1 including:

storing, at the management device, the intercepted data in a structure format that identifies when data was intercepted and at the same time provides authentication that the stored intercepted data has not been altered or deleted.

5. The method according to claim 4 including monitoring communications between the remote client and the mobile device for multiple contiguous time periods.

6. The method according to claim 5 including:

generating, using the management server, log files over an intercept period that encompasses multiple contiguous time periods;

storing the log files in a same intercept directory;

inserting the warrant identifier into the intercept directory; and

generating a name for the intercept directory that identifies the intercept target and the intercept period over which the log files were generated.

7. The method according to claim 6 including:

encrypting the log files in the intercept directory with an encryption scheme known by an agency issuing the warrant, said encryption performed using the management server that intercepted the data; and

sending the encrypted intercept directory to an electronic mailbox accessible by the agency.

8. The method according to claim 7 including:

generating a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) or other digital signature value for all of the log files in the intercept directory;

encrypting the resulting generated value; and

providing the encrypted generated value to the enforcement agency, said encrypted generated value sent in a different communication than the encrypted intercept directory, said encrypted generated value verifying that the log files have not been altered.

9. The method according to claim 1 including:

reading an intercept configuration file that contains the warrant identifier, the user identifier, an enforcement agency known encryption key and an electronic mailbox address;

upon reading the intercept configuration file automatically intercepting data received and/or sent by the mobile device;

formatting any intercepted data into log files that identify when the data was intercepted; and

encrypting the log files using the encryption key.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the end-to-end encrypted channel information is associated with content and is protected with an end-to-end encryption scheme that is kept secret from any midpoints located on a call path between transmitting and receiving endpoints, and the other channel information is associated with transaction routing information and is protected with the negotiated point-to-point encryption scheme.

11. A communication management system, comprising:

one or more processors configured to operate as a legal intercept for intercepting data associated with a target user pursuant to a legal warrant, the processors configured to intercept the data without altering the operation of target services that operate on an endpoint associated with the data;

the processors configured to distinguish between encrypted transaction routing information and end-to-end encrypted channel information included in the intercepted data;

the processors further configured to decrypt the transaction routing information without decrypting the end-to-end encrypted channel information; and

the processors further configured to store the decrypted transaction routing information and the end-to-end encrypted channel information in one or more log files;

wherein the processors are configured to identify unencrypted clear channel information included in the intercepted data, and combine the unencrypted clear channel information with the decrypted transaction routing information and the encrypted end-to-end channel information in a same one of the log files;

wherein the processors are configured to encrypt the unencrypted clear channel information, the decrypted transaction routing information and the end-to-end encrypted channel information before being stored in the log file.

12. The system according to claim 11 wherein the end-to-end encrypted channel information is encrypted with a first encryption key that is negotiated between a mobile device and a local network and not revealed to the communication management system.

13. The system according to claim 12 wherein the processors are configured to encrypt the end-to-end encrypted channel information and the decrypted transaction routing information stored in the log files.

14. The system according to claim 11 wherein the transaction routing information includes transaction authentication and routing information and the end-to-end encrypted channel information includes the contents of email messages, electronic files, or other electronic data.