Patent ID: 9154517
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for preventing spread of malware in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the method comprising: maintaining, by a server, a database of verified clean metadata objects, a database of verified malicious metadata objects, and a database of unverified metadata objects; receiving, by the server, from a peer client computer on the P2P network a request for a metadata object, containing information about an associated data object; checking, by a hardware processor of the server, if the requested metadata object is found in one of the database of verified clean metadata objects, the database of verified malicious metadata objects and the database of unverified metadata objects; if the requested metadata object is found in the database of verified clean data objects, transmitting, by the server, the requested metadata object to the peer client computer; if the requested metadata object is found in the database of unverified data objects, determining, by the hardware processor, if the peer client computer has an antivirus software for testing the unverified data object for malware when the data object is downloaded from the P2P network; if the peer client computer has an antivirus software, transmitting, by the server, to the peer client computer the requested metadata object; and if the peer client computer does not have an antivirus software, denying the request to provide the metadata object to the peer client computer.