System, method and program product for temporally authorizing program execution

• US 7,647,647 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2004
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schultz, Dale M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Simitoski; Michael J
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAYOU, YONAS A
• Application Number:
  US10/912,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,986 Days
• Field of Search: 726/29, 726/30, 726/35, 726/3, 713/100, 713/164, 713/172, 713/184
• US Class Current: 726/29
• 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: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data

Abstract

A system, method and program product that allows a set of actions being executed on a computer system to be temporally authorized for execution for a short duration. A computer system is provided comprising: an execution platform for executing program code; and an execution control system that can interrupt execution of actions encountered in the program code, wherein the execution control system includes a system for temporally authorizing execution of an encountered action.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

at least one computing device including;

an execution platform for executing program code; and

an execution control system that can interrupt execution of actions encountered in the program code, wherein the program code includes a digital signature from a signer of the program code, wherein the execution control system includes a system for temporarily authorizing execution of an encountered action for a time duration and, wherein the execution control system includes an execution control list containing actions and signers of the program code that are allowed or not allowed to execute without interruption, wherein the execution control system includes an alert generation system that causes a dialogue window to be presented to an end user when a signer of the program code is not included in the execution control list for the encountered action and, wherein the dialogue window includes an alert message and a signer of the program and the action and a set of options for a user.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the dialogue window includes an option for allowing the user to temporarily authorize execution of the encountered action for a predetermined time duration.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the predetermined time duration is substantially in the range of zero to ten seconds.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the system for temporally authorizing execution includes a system for temporarily adding the encountered action to the execution control list for the time duration.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the system for temporarily authorizing execution includes a system for adding the encountered action to the execution control list along with an expiration date/time of the authorization.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the system for temporarily authorizing execution additionally adds a time stamp to the execution control list.