Abstract:
Techniques for secure browsing may be realized as a method including: in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a first resource reference, submitting the first resource reference to a server; receiving a response from the server indicating approval of the first resource reference; directing the first resource reference to a browser application based on the approval response; in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a second resource reference, submitting the second resource reference to the server; receiving a response from the server indicating disapproval of the second resource reference; and determining not to direct the second resource reference to a browser application based on the disapproval response.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates generally to browsing networks and, more particularly, to techniques for secure browsing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Internet browsing has increasingly become a standard part of the use of mobile computing devices, and correspondingly uniform resource locator (URL) addresses are often provided to a mobile device in many different ways, from short message service (SMS) messages to links within mobile applications. Furthermore, mobile devices may have a variety of applications available for browsing. Because there are multiple vectors available both for receiving and entering web addresses, safeguards limited to specific vectors may still allow attacks from bad URLs received and entered through unprotected vectors. Indeed, there is currently a lack of capability to examine and clear a URL on a mobile device irrespective of its source or the eventual browser selected to display it. 
     In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with current URL firewall technologies. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Techniques for secure browsing are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method comprising the steps of, in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a first resource reference, submitting the first resource reference to a server; receiving a response from the server indicating approval of the first resource reference; directing the first resource reference to a browser application based on the approval response; in response to a non-browser instruction to resolve a second resource reference, submitting the second resource reference to the server; receiving a response from the server indicating disapproval of the second resource reference; and determining not to direct the second resource reference to a browser application based on the disapproval response. 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, the method may further comprise generating a notification associated with the second resource reference based on the disapproval response. 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, the method may further comprise, after determining not to direct the second resource reference to a browser application based on the disapproval response, receiving override input from a user to resolve the second resource reference; and directing the second resource reference to a browser application based on the override input. 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, the method may further comprise, in response to receiving approval of the first resource reference, presenting a plurality of browser applications for selection by a user. Directing the first resource reference to a browser application may be further based on a selection made by the user 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, the method may further comprise, before the non-browser instruction to resolve the first resource reference, receiving a selection of a default browser application. The browser application that the first resource reference is directed to may be the default browser application 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, submitting the first resource reference to a server may occur in response to a user selecting a firewall application from a browser list for resolving the first resource reference 
     In accordance with other aspects of this particular embodiment, wherein submitting the first resource reference to a server may occur based on a firewall application having previously been chosen as a default application for resolving resource references 
     In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an article of manufacture including at least one processor readable storage medium and instructions stored on the at least one medium. The instructions may be configured to be readable from the at least one medium by at least one processor and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate so as to carry out any and all of the steps in the above-described method. 
     In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a system comprising one or more processors communicatively coupled to a network; wherein the one or more processors are configured to carry out any and all of the steps described with respect to any of the above embodiments. 
     The present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to particular embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings. While the present disclosure is described below with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to the teachings herein will recognize additional implementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other fields of use, which are within the scope of the present disclosure as described herein, and with respect to which the present disclosure may be of significant utility. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the present disclosure, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are referenced with like numerals. These drawings should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure, but are intended to be illustrative only. 
         FIG. 1  shows a block diagram depicting a network architecture in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  shows a block diagram depicting a computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of a mobile device operating system and security server in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  shows a method for secure browsing in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows a block diagram depicting a network architecture  100  in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 1  is a simplified view of network architecture  100 , which may include additional elements that are not depicted. Network architecture  100  may contain client systems  110 ,  120  and  130 , as well as servers  140 A- 140 N (one or more of each of which may be implemented using computer system  200  shown in  FIG. 2 ). Client systems  110 ,  120  and  130  may be communicatively coupled to a network  150 . Server  140 A may be communicatively coupled to storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N), and server  140 B may be communicatively coupled to storage devices  160 B( 1 )-(N). Servers  140 A and  140 B may be communicatively coupled to a SAN (Storage Area Network) fabric  170 . SAN fabric  170  may support access to storage devices  180 ( 1 )-(N) by servers  140 A and  140 B, and by client systems  110 ,  120  and  130  via network  150 . 
     With reference to computer system  200  of  FIG. 2 , modem  247 , network interface  248 , or some other method may be used to provide connectivity from one or more of client systems  110 ,  120  and  130  to network  150 . Client systems  110 ,  120  and  130  may access information on server  140 A or  140 B using, for example, a web browser or other client software (not shown). Such a client may allow client systems  110 ,  120  and  130  to access data hosted by server  140 A or  140 B or one of storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N). 
     Networks  150  and  190  may be local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), the Internet, cellular networks, satellite networks, or other networks that permit communication between clients  110 ,  120 ,  130 , servers  140 , and other devices communicatively coupled to networks  150  and  190 . Networks  150  and  190  may further include one, or any number, of the exemplary types of networks mentioned above operating as a stand-alone network or in cooperation with each other. Networks  150  and  190  may utilize one or more protocols of one or more clients or servers to which they are communicatively coupled. Networks  150  and  190  may translate to or from other protocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Although networks  150  and  190  are each depicted as one network, it should be appreciated that according to one or more embodiments, networks  150  and  190  may each comprise a plurality of interconnected networks. 
     Storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N) may be network accessible storage and may be local, remote, or a combination thereof to server  140 A or  140 B. Storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N) may utilize a redundant array of inexpensive disks (“RAID”), magnetic tape, disk, a storage area network (“SAN”), an internet small computer systems interface (“iSCSI”) SAN, a Fibre Channel SAN, a common Internet File System (“CIFS”), network attached storage (“NAS”), a network file system (“NFS”), optical based storage, or other computer accessible storage. Storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N) may be used for backup or archival purposes. Further, storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N) may be implemented as part of a multi-tier storage environment. 
     According to some embodiments, clients  110 ,  120 , and  130  may be smartphones, PDAs, desktop computers, a laptop computers, servers, other computers, or other devices coupled via a wireless or wired connection to network  150 . Clients  110 ,  120 , and  130  may receive data from user input, a database, a file, a web service, and/or an application programming interface. In some implementations, clients  110 ,  120 , and  130  may specifically be network-capable mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. 
     Servers  140 A and  140 B may be application servers, archival platforms, backup servers, network storage devices, media servers, email servers, document management platforms, enterprise search servers, or other devices communicatively coupled to network  150 . Servers  140 A and  140 B may utilize one of storage devices  160 A( 1 )-(N),  160 B( 1 )-(N), and/or  180 ( 1 )-(N) for the storage of application data, backup data, or other data. Servers  140 A and  140 B may be hosts, such as an application server, which may process data traveling between clients  110 ,  120 , and  130  and a backup platform, a backup process, and/or storage. According to some embodiments, servers  140 A and  140 B may be platforms used for backing up and/or archiving data. One or more portions of data may be backed up or archived based on a backup policy and/or an archive applied, attributes associated with the data source, space available for backup, space available at the data source, or other factors. 
     According to some embodiments, clients  110 ,  120 , and  130  may contain one or more portions of software for implementation of secure browsing processes such as, for example, URL firewall application  154 , while server  140 A may include one or more portions such as, for example, URL security module  156 . Further, one or more portions of the URL security module  156  may reside at a network centric location. For example, server  140 A may be a server, a firewall, a gateway, or other network element that may perform one or more actions to support management of system and network security elements. According to some embodiments, network  190  may be an external network (e.g., the Internet) and server  140 A may be a gateway or firewall between one or more internal components and clients and the external network. According to some embodiments, analysis and approval of resource references including URL security module  154  may be implemented as part of a cloud computing environment. 
       FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of a computer system  200  in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Computer system  200  is suitable for implementing techniques in accordance with the present disclosure. Computer system  200  may include a bus  212  which may interconnect major subsystems of computer system  200 , such as a central processor  214 , a system memory  217  (e.g. RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), flash RAM, or the like), an Input/Output (I/O) controller  218 , an external audio device, such as a speaker system  220  via an audio output interface  222 , an external device, such as a display screen  224  via display adapter  226 , serial ports  228  and  230 , a keyboard  232  (interfaced via a keyboard controller  233 ), a storage interface  234 , a floppy disk drive  237  operative to receive a floppy disk  238 , a host bus adapter (HBA) interface card  235 A operative to connect with a Fibre Channel network  290 , a host bus adapter (HBA) interface card  235 B operative to connect to a SCSI bus  239 , and an optical disk drive  240  operative to receive an optical disk  242 . Also included may be a mouse  246  (or other point-and-click device, coupled to bus  212  via serial port  228 ), a modem  247  (coupled to bus  212  via serial port  230 ), network interface  248  (coupled directly to bus  212 ), power manager  250 , and battery  252 . 
     Bus  212  allows data communication between central processor  214  and system memory  217 , which may include read-only memory (ROM) or flash memory (neither shown), and random access memory (RAM) (not shown), as previously noted. The RAM may be the main memory into which the operating system and application programs may be loaded. The ROM or flash memory can contain, among other code, the Basic Input-Output system (BIOS) which controls basic hardware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components. Applications resident with computer system  200  may be stored on and accessed via a computer readable medium, such as a hard disk drive (e.g., fixed disk  244 ), an optical drive (e.g., optical drive  240 ), a floppy disk unit  237 , a removable disk unit (e.g., Universal Serial Bus drive), or other storage medium. According to some embodiments, URL firewall application  154  may be resident in system memory  217 . 
     Storage interface  234 , as with the other storage interfaces of computer system  200 , can connect to a standard computer readable medium for storage and/or retrieval of information, such as a fixed disk drive  244 . Fixed disk drive  244  may be a part of computer system  200  or may be separate and accessed through other interface systems. Modem  247  may provide a direct connection to a remote server via a telephone link or to the Internet via an internet service provider (ISP). Network interface  248  may provide a direct connection to a remote server via a direct network link to the Internet via a POP (point of presence). Network interface  248  may provide such connection using wireless techniques, including digital cellular telephone connection, Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) connection, digital satellite data connection or the like. 
     Many other devices or subsystems (not shown) may be connected in a similar manner (e.g., document scanners, digital cameras and so on). Conversely, all of the devices shown in  FIG. 2  need not be present to practice the present disclosure. The devices and subsystems can be interconnected in different ways from that shown in  FIG. 2 . Code to implement the present disclosure may be stored in computer-readable storage media such as one or more of system memory  217 , fixed disk  244 , optical disk  242 , or floppy disk  238 . Code to implement the present disclosure may also be received via one or more interfaces and stored in memory. The operating system provided on computer system  200  may be MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, OS X®, UNIX®, Linux®, or another known operating system. 
     Power manager  250  may monitor a power level of battery  252 . Power manager  250  may provide one or more APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to allow determination of a power level, of a time window remaining prior to shutdown of computer system  200 , a power consumption rate, an indicator of whether computer system is on mains (e.g., AC Power) or battery power, and other power related information. According to some embodiments, APIs of power manager  250  may be accessible remotely (e.g., accessible to a remote backup management module via a network connection). According to some embodiments, battery  252  may be an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) located either local to or remote from computer system  200 . In such embodiments, power manager  250  may provide information about a power level of an UPS. 
     In one embodiment, a client system  110  may be a mobile device which includes an operating system  300  as illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Here, the operating system  300  maintains a browser list  302  which indicates which applications are equipped to receive resource references such as URLS as inputs. In some implementations, even though the URL firewall application  154  is not equipped as a browser to resolve resource references, the URL firewall application  154  is nonetheless configured to appear on the browser list  302  so that it can respond to a resource reference being selected for resolution. A default system browser  304   a  and additional installed browser applications  304   b - d  are also included on the browser list. 
     In addition to the URL firewall application  154  and browser applications  304   a - d , the system may also include a messaging application  306 , which may be an SMS or MMS application, an instant messaging application, or the like. One or more other non-browsing applications  308  may also be installed; common examples include email, mapping, shopping, account management, and others. Some non-browsing applications may present information received from the Internet in a unique format, but under some other circumstances may present a resource reference such as a URL for resolution by the mobile device outside of the application. 
     The device may also include a network module  310 , which is equipped to access a network such as the Internet in order to send and receive information not available on the mobile device itself. The operating system  300  may allow any of the browsing and/or non-browsing applications to interface with the network module  310  in order to send and receive information over the internet as necessary. 
     The messaging application  306  or another non-browsing application  308  may present a user with a resource reference, such as a URL, that the user may select in order to browse to a resource. The operating system  300  is then configured to allow a user to select any of the browsers on the browser list  302  to resolve the reference and access the resource. This poses a security challenge, as firewalls or other security installed, for example, on the system browser  304   a  may not also be installed on the other browser applications  304   b - d . This avenue of accessing websites therefore represents a potential security risk. 
     The risk can be addressed by the user selecting the URL firewall application to resolve the reference. The URL firewall application  154  transmits the reference to a server  140 A including a URL security module  156 , which is equipped to evaluate the reference. An approval or disapproval is then returned to the URL firewall application  154 , which may convey each approved reference onto a browser application  304   a - d . Unapproved references may instead be flagged for further scrutiny by the system and/or user, and not passed along to a browser. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a method  400  for secure browsing on a mobile device. Although the example discussed with respect to method  400  is a URL, one of ordinary skill will recognize that any reference to a remote resource may be treated similarly regardless of the particular protocol associated with the reference. 
     The user selects a resource reference to resolve ( 402 ). As discussed above, the resource reference may have been provided to the user by means of a non-browser application, so that the mobile device has to select an appropriate application to resolve the reference. 
     The system then checks to see if the URL firewall application is set as the default application ( 404 ). In some implementations, the method  400  will proceed if the default is not set at all or is set to the URL firewall application. If another default browser is already set to resolve the resource reference, then there may not be an opportunity for the URL firewall to intervene; therefore, it is important that the URL firewall application be either set as the default application for resolving URLs or available for selection by the user. 
     If the URL browser is not set as the default, then the system displays a browser list from which the user may select a browser ( 406 ). The user selects the URL firewall application in order to proceed with the secure browsing process ( 408 ). 
     Once the URL firewall application is activated to resolve the URL, it transmits the URL to a remote security server capable of evaluating the URL ( 410 ). In some implementations, this transmission may occur over the same network connection that the application would use if it were browsing to the selected site, so that as long as the URL firewall application has the permissions for a browser it should be able to communicate with the security server as necessary. 
     The security server sends back whether the URL is approved ( 412 ). If the URL is not approved, then the URL firewall application may alert the user that a risky URL has been selected for browsing ( 414 ). In some implementations, the application may then allow the user to decide whether to proceed with resolving the risky URL or not. The source of the risky URL (for example, the non-browser application, or the identity of the messenger if received in a message) may also be logged for further analysis or flagged by the system for additional scrutiny. In some implementations, the system may provide the option of disabling certain capabilities (such as removing the hotlinks from a questionable application or particular messenger) based on the disapproved URL. 
     If the URL is approved, then the firewall application may send the URL on to be resolved by a browser application as normal ( 416 ). In some implementations, the firewall application may provide the user with the system&#39;s browser list, minus its own entry. The user may also be able to configure a default browser to which the URL firewall application automatically directs approved URLs. 
     At this point it should be noted that techniques for secure browsing in accordance with the present disclosure as described above may involve the processing of input data and the generation of output data to some extent. This input data processing and output data generation may be implemented in hardware or software. For example, specific electronic components may be employed in a URL firewall application, URL security module, security server, or similar or related circuitry for implementing the functions associated with secure browsing in accordance with the present disclosure as described above. Alternatively, one or more processors operating in accordance with instructions may implement the functions associated with secure browsing in accordance with the present disclosure as described above. If such is the case, it is within the scope of the present disclosure that such instructions may be stored on one or more non-transitory processor readable storage media (e.g., a magnetic disk or other storage medium), or transmitted to one or more processors via one or more signals embodied in one or more carrier waves. 
     The present disclosure is not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein. Indeed, other various embodiments of and modifications to the present disclosure, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Thus, such other embodiments and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Further, although the present disclosure has been described herein in the context of at least one particular implementation in at least one particular environment for at least one particular purpose, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the present disclosure may be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breadth and spirit of the present disclosure as described herein.