Adjusting security level of mobile device based on presence or absence of other mobile devices nearby

• US 8,095,112 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2008
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Chow, Richard, Golle, Philippe J. P., Staddon, Jessica N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG-HURST, KATHY W
• Application Number:
  US12/196,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20100048167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: 455410-411, 4554141-4143, 4554561-4563, 380/270, 340/539.11
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/37 E-mail addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/67 Risk-dependent, e.g. selecting a security level depending on risk profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for adjusting security status on a mobile device, the method comprising: collecting security-related contextual information which includes information of nearby mobile devices and/or the geographic location of the intelligent mobile device; evaluating a threat level based on the collected security-related contextual information; invoking a security policy; and adjusting the security status of the mobile device based on the threat level and the security policy.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting security status on a mobile device, the method comprising:

collecting security-related contextual information which includes information of a nearby mobile device, wherein collecting the security-related contextual information further includes detecting an accelerometer trace;

evaluating a threat level based on the collected security-related contextual information, which involves determining whether the nearby mobile device is a known mobile device;

invoking a security policy; and

adjusting the security status of the mobile device based on the threat level and the security policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the security status of the mobile device comprises one or more of the following operations:

increasing or lowering a user authentication requirement;

changing the order of suggested email addresses in an address auto-complete field;

suggesting that an open document be saved in a designated folder; and

imposing a set of security policies on documents in a designated folder.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the security-related contextual information further includes detecting at least one of the following:

a current time; and

a wireless network to which the mobile device is in communication with.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting of security-related contextual information automatically starts when the device is turned on.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting of security-related contextual information is manually started.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a list of known mobile devices and/or known geographic locations; and

comparing the collected security-related contextual information with the list.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the mobile device user to manually input the list.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring the list using a self-training process.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein

while adjusting the security status of the mobile device, the authentication engine is configured to perform one or more of the following operations:

increasing or lowering a user authentication requirement;

changing the order of suggested email addresses in an address auto-complete field;

suggesting that an open document be saved in a designated folder; and

imposing a set of security policies on documents in a designated folder.

11. The mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the security-related contextual information includes at least one of the following:

a current time; and

a wireless network to which the mobile device is in connection with.

12. The mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the security data collection agent starts collecting security-related information automatically when the device is turned on.

13. The mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the security data collection agent starts collecting security-related information when manually configured by a user.

14. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising:

a list of known mobile devices and/or known geographic locations.

15. The mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the list is manually inputted by the mobile device user.

16. The mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the list is acquired by the mobile device using a self-training process.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein adjusting the security status of the mobile device comprises performing one or more of the following operations:

increase or lowering a user authentication requirement;

changing the order of suggested email addresses in an address auto-complete field;

suggesting that an open document be saved in a designated folder; and

imposing a set of security policies on documents in a designated folder.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein collecting the security-related information further includes detecting at least one of the following:

a current time; and

a wireless network to which the mobile device is in communication with.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the collecting of security-related contextual information automatically starts when the device is turned on.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the collecting of security-related contextual information is manually started.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

maintaining a list of known mobile devices and/or known geographic locations; and

comparing the collected security-related information with the list.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

allowing the mobile device user to manually input the list.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

acquiring the list using a self-training process.

9. A mobile device that self-adjusts a security status, the device comprising:

a security data collection agent that collects security-related contextual information which includes information of a nearby mobile device, wherein the security-related contextual information includes an accelerometer trace;

a threat level evaluator that evaluates a current threat level based on the collected security-related contextual information by determining whether the nearby mobile device is a known mobile device;

a security policy holder that stores a set of security policies; and

an authentication engine that adjusts the security status of the mobile device based on the threat level and the security policies.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for adjusting security status on an intelligent mobile device, the method comprising:

collecting security-related information which includes information of a nearby mobile device, wherein collecting the security-related information further includes detecting an accelerometer trace;

evaluating a threat level based on the collected security-related contextual information, which involves determining whether the nearby mobile device is a known mobile device;

invoking a security policy; and

adjusting security status of the mobile device based on the threat level and the security policy.