Patent ID: 12216797

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure may be implemented in numerous ways including, but not limited to, as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, or a computer readable medium such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions or computer program code, or a computer network wherein computer readable instructions or computer program code are sent over optical or electronic communication links. Applications, software programs or computer readable instructions may be referred to as components or modules. Applications may take the form of software executing on a general purpose computer or be hardwired or hard coded in hardware. Applications may also be downloaded in whole or in part through the use of a software development kit, framework, or toolkit that enables the creation and implementation of the present disclosure. Applications may also include web applications, which include components that run on the device in a web browser. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the disclosure may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed methods may be altered within the scope of the disclosure, except in those instances where it is specified that the order of steps must be in a particular sequence.

As used herein, the term “mobile communications device” may refer to mobile phones, PDAs and smartphones. The term “mobile communications device” may also refer to a class of laptop computers which run an operating system that is also used on mobile phones, PDAs, or smartphones. Such laptop computers are often designed to operate with a continuous connection to a cellular network or to the internet via a wireless link. The term “mobile communications device” excludes other laptop computers, notebook computers, or sub-notebook computers that do not run an operating system that is also used on mobile phones, PDAs, and smartphones. Specifically, mobile communications devices include devices for which wireless communications services such as voice, messaging, data, or other wireless Internet capabilities are a primary function.

As used herein, a “mobile communications device” may also be referred to as a “device,” “mobile device,” “mobile client,” “electronic device,” or “handset.” However, a person having skill in the art will appreciate that while the present disclosure refers to systems and methods being used on mobile communications devices, the present disclosure may also be used on other computing platforms including, but not limited to, desktop, laptop, notebook, netbook, or server computers.

As used herein, the term “client computer” may refer to any computer, embedded device, mobile device, or other system that can be used to perform the functionality described as being performed by the client computer. Specifically, client computers include devices which can be used to display a user interface by which the functionality provided by the server can be utilized by a user. Client computers may be able to display a web page, load an application, load a widget, or perform other display functionality that allows the client computer to report information from the server to the user and to receive input from the user in order to send requests to the server.

Prior to describing in detail systems and methods for creating and assigning a policy for an electronic device based on personal data, a system in which the disclosure may be implemented shall first be described. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements illustrated inFIG.1may vary depending on the system implementation.

As shown inFIG.1, the system may include mobile communications devices101,101aand a server111. An example mobile communications device101may include an operating system113, an input device115, a radio frequency transceiver(s)116, a visual display125, and a battery or power supply119. Each of these components may be coupled to a central processing unit (CPU)103. The mobile communications device operating system113runs on the CPU103and enables interaction between application programs and the mobile communications device hardware components. In some embodiments, the mobile communications device101receives data through an RF transceiver(s)116which may be able to communicate via various networks including, but not limited to, Bluetooth, local area networks such as Wi-Fi, and cellular networks such as GSM or CDMA.

In some embodiments, a local software component175is an application program that is downloaded to a mobile communications device and installed so that it integrates with the operating system113. Much of the source code for the local software component175can be re-used between various mobile device platforms by using a cross-platform software architecture. In such a system, the majority of software functionality can be implemented in a cross-platform core module. The cross-platform core can be universal allowing it to interface with various mobile device operating systems by using a platform-specific module and a platform abstraction module that both interact with the mobile device operating system113, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,099,472, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A MOBILE CROSS-PLATFORM SOFTWARE SYSTEM,” incorporated herein by reference. In another embodiment, the local software component175can be device, platform or operating system specific.

The mobile communications device101may access a communications network121that permits access to a server111. The server111may also be accessed by another mobile communications device101avia network121. The network121will normally be the Internet but can also be any other communications network. Alternatively, the mobile communications device101may access the server111by a different network than the network the other mobile communications device101aaccesses the server111. In some embodiments, the server111is provided with server software117. The server software117on the server111provides functionality to allow two-way communication between the server111and the mobile communications devices101,101athrough the network121. The server software117allows data, such as location-related information, pictures, contacts, videos, SMS messages, call history, event logs, and settings to be transferred from the mobile communications device101to the other mobile communications device101aand vice versa.

It is understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the functionality performed by server111does not necessarily have to be accomplished on a single hardware device. In this context, the use of the term server is intended to refer to one or more computers operating in cooperation or collaboration to provide the functionality described herein. The computers may be co-located or in different locations. The computers may inter-operate in such a way that portions of functionality are provided by separate services that may or may not be operated by the same entity as other computers which provide other functionality. For example, one set of servers may provide data storage functionality while another provides all other functionality. The data storage servers may be operated by a separate company than the servers that provide the other functionality. S3 (simple storage system), from Amazon, Inc. is such a data storage service which may be utilized by separate set of computers to enable the present invention.

It should be understood that the arrangement of electronic mobile communications device101illustrated inFIG.1is but one possible implementation and that other arrangements are possible. It should also be understood that the various system components defined by the claims, described below, and illustrated in the various block diagrams represent logical components that are configured to perform the functionality described herein. For example, one or more of these system components (and means) can be realized, in whole or in part, by at least some of the components illustrated in the arrangement of mobile communications device101. In addition, while at least one of these components are implemented at least partially as an electronic hardware component, and therefore constitutes a machine, the other components may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. More particularly, at least one component defined by the claims is implemented at least partially as an electronic hardware component, such as an instruction execution machine (e.g., a processor-based or processor-containing machine) and/or as specialized circuits or circuitry (e.g., discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function), such as those illustrated inFIG.1. Other components may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. Moreover, some or all of these other components may be combined, some may be omitted altogether, and additional components can be added while still achieving the functionality described herein. Thus, the disclosure described herein can be embodied in many different variations, and all such variations known to those of ordinary skill are contemplated to be within the scope of what is claimed.

In the description that follows, the disclosure will be described with reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations that are performed by one or more devices, unless indicated otherwise. As such, it will be understood that such acts and operations, which are at times referred to as being computer-executed, include the manipulation by the processing unit of data in a structured form. This manipulation transforms the data or maintains it at locations in the memory system of the device, which reconfigures or otherwise alters the operation of the device in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art. The data structures where data is maintained are physical locations of the memory that have particular properties defined by the format of the data. However, while the disclosure is being described in the foregoing context, it is not meant to be limiting as those of skill in the art will appreciate that various of the acts and operation described hereinafter may also be implemented in hardware.

FIG.2illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device200in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. In general, the electronic device200may comprise a plurality of modules and components including a policy management module to create and assign a policy.

As shown inFIG.2, the electronic device200may be configured to provide an execution environment to host at least one operating system201, a plurality of applications202and203, and a file system204. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of applications202and203may include executable code, which when executed by a processor (e.g., CPU103), may provide a service or function of the electronic device200. Each of the plurality of applications202or203may be associated with at least a part of the application data216. In the same or alternative embodiments, one or more of the plurality of applications202or203may access any of the file system204comprising file sources206,208, and210, application data216, device data218, camera230, speaker232, network interface234, and sensor(s)232. For example, the electronic device200may host or run a plurality of applications202and203. A first application may access or retrieve data from application data216and file source206from the file system204. A second application may access or retrieve data from the device data218and file sources208and210from the file system204. Furthermore, a third application may retrieve data generated from the camera230and sensor(s)232and access the network interface234. As such, each of the applications of the plurality of applications202and203may access various types of data or files stored on the electronic device200as well as a functionality (e.g., camera230, speaker232, network interface234, sensor(s)232) of the electronic device200.

In some embodiments, the electronic device200may also support the operation of a policy management module220that may be responsible for creating and assigning policies for the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the policy management module220may operate in the electronic device200as a client application hosted by the electronic device200, as is shown inFIG.2. In an alternative embodiment, the policy management module220may be provided by and integrated within the operating system201of the electronic device200. In either of the embodiments, the policy management module220may be configured to manage the creating and applying of policies described herein. In another embodiment, the policy management module220may operate on a server in communication with the electronic device200. For example, the policy management module220may be executed on a server and may create the policy to be assigned to the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the server may receive data (e.g., an identification of personal data) from the electronic device200, create a policy based on the received data, and then transmit the policy to the electronic device200. In an alternative embodiment, functions of the policy management module220may be distributed between the electronic device200and the server. For example, certain components or modules of the policy management module220may be executed by the electronic device200while other components or modules may be executed by the server. As such, both the electronic device200and a server may perform actions associated with the creating and using of a policy as disclosed herein. Further details with regard to the policy management module220are discussed in further detail below with relation toFIG.3. In some embodiments, the application data216, device data218, and file system204with file sources206,208, and210may store a plurality of types of information, files, or data. Such information, files, or data may include sensitive personal data. As such, it may be desirable for the user of the electronic device200to restrict access to such personal data and/or to be notified when one or more applications from the plurality of applications202and203executing on the electronic device200access the personal data. In some embodiments, the policy management module220executing on the electronic device200may identify the personal data stored on the electronic device200, create a policy based on the identified personal data, monitor the identified personal data based on the policy, and report any access to the identified personal data based on the policy.

Examples of the previously mentioned data include, but are not limited to, personal data associated with the user of the electronic device200. For example, the personal data may include personally identifiable information (PII) that may be used to identify the user of the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the PII may include any information about the user of the electronic device200that can be used to distinguish or trace the user's identity as well as information that is linked to the user of the electronic device200. Examples of such PII include, but are not limited to, the user's name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother's maiden name, driver's license number, passport number, firearm owner's identification card, username, email address, security questions and answers, digital certificates associated with the user, gender, marital status, race, religion, salary, biometric information (e.g., height, weight, eye color, hair color, fingerprint scans, retinal scans, medical information), financial information (e.g., credit card numbers, verification codes, expiration dates, debit card numbers, bank account numbers), family information (e.g., dependents, children, spouse, parents), emergency contact information, etc. These are just some examples of PII.

Additional examples of personal data associated with the user of the electronic device200may include, but are not limited to, contacts of the user of the electronic device200(e.g., an address book or phone number contact list), short message service (SMS) contacts, SMS messages transmitted or received by the user of the electronic device200, email contacts, email database (e.g., the electronic device200may store emails from an email account of the user), email messages transmitted or received by the electronic device200, phone logs, web logs or browser history (e.g., which websites has the user of the electronic device200visited), cookies, and phone numbers.

Further examples of personal data may include information that may be used to identify the electronic device200. For example, the personal data may include, but is not limited to, International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID), Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID), Electronic Serial Numbers (ESN), Unique Device Identifier (UDID), Media Access Control (MAC) Address, the applications that are installed on the electronic device200(e.g., plurality of applications202and203), and a phone number associated with the electronic device200.

Still further examples of personal data may include data from one or more components of the electronic device200(e.g., camera230, speaker232, network interface234, sensor(s)232). For example, the personal data may include images or photos taken by the camera230, location information from the sensor232of the electronic device200(e.g., a current physical location of the electronic device200), a location history of the electronic device200, or a log or history of domains, IP addresses, other devices that the electronic device200has communicated with. Additionally, location information or other PII may be embedded as metadata, e.g., Exchangeable image file format (Exif) metadata. Such information is usually placed automatically by applications or cameras into image files without the actions of a user.

Additional examples of personal data may include data which can be used to make inferences about other user personal data. For example, an application that obtains repeated process memory size of a browser application's process can use that information to fingerprint which websites the user is visiting. Thus, although the occasional access to process memory size information does not expose personal data, the repeated access to this information can expose personal data. Detection of repeated access and reporting of repeated access to such system level information that can be used for inferences about other personal data may also be included as personal data. Another example of system related information which can be used to infer personal data is the set of plugins or extensions installed in a browser application. Research has shown that the combination of the browser's user-agent string and the list of installed plugins or extensions can fingerprint a user that may be used to uniquely identify a particular device or user. Thus, an application that attempts to retrieve the complete list of installed plugins or extensions for a browser application can be considered to be accessing another type of personal data. Similarly, devices frequently broadcast the names (SSIDs) of their favorite or recently connected to networks to facilitate discovery and subsequent connection to known or preferred networks. These network names (SSIDs) constitute another example of personal data which can be used to make inferences about other user personal data. For example, the names may reveal recent user locations, user buying preferences, user medical conditions (user's device is trying to connect to “Oncology-Clinic-Free-Wifi”) or other items of a personal nature that can be inferred. In such a case it may be advisable to adjust settings or use application wrappers or operating system functions or hooks to prevent the device from broadcasting some or all of such network names according to a privacy policy. Devices can still connect to such networks by passive discovery (listening for network names broadcast from network access points). Such inferred information could be used by a listener for targeting advertisements or tailoring search results presented to a user of the device. Similarly, an application running on the device may attempt to obtain this list of recently used network names (SSIDs).

As such, the personal data may include PII data, application related information (e.g., which applications are installed on the electronic device200), device related information (e.g., identifiers associated with the device), communication related information (e.g., phone logs, emails, SMS messages, etc.), information obtained by the device (e.g., location information), or any personal files or data stored by the user (e.g., files in the file system204). Such data may be personal to the user and use of the electronic device200.

FIG.3illustrates a block diagram of a policy management module220to create and to assign a policy for a mobile communications device (e.g., electronic device200). In general, the policy management module220may create and assign a policy for a mobile communications device. In some embodiments, the policy management module220may be executed on the mobile communications device. In alternative embodiments, the policy management module200may be executed from a server. In another embodiment, components or modules of the policy management module200may be distributed between the mobile communications device and the server.

As shown inFIG.3, the policy management module220may comprise a data identifier module310. In some embodiments, the data identifier module310may identify data associated with the electronic device200. For example, the data identifier module310may identify personal data of a user of the electronic device as previously disclosed. In some embodiments, the data identifier module310may identify locations on the electronic device200(e.g., areas in the file system204) that are storing the personal data and may further identify types of personal data that is stored on the electronic device200or may identify a use of the electronic device200. The policy management module220may further comprise a policy creator module320. In some embodiments, the policy creator module320may create a policy based on the personal data identified by the data identifier module310. The policy may be created for the electronic device200based on the personal data that is stored on the electronic device200and the personal use by the user of the electronic device200. Further detail with regards to identifying data (e.g., by the data identifier module310) and creating a policy (e.g., by the policy creator module320) are disclosed in further detail below with relation toFIGS.5and6.

As shown inFIG.3, the policy management module220may further comprise a policy assigner module330. In some embodiments, the policy assigner module330may assign a policy to the electronic device200. In some embodiments, a plurality of policies may be available to the policy assigner330. For example, the policies storage370may comprise a plurality of policies that have been created for the electronic device200and the policy assigner330may select one of the plurality of policies that are located in the policies storage370. As shown, the policy management module220may further include a data monitor module340. In some embodiments, the data monitor module340may monitor personal data that has been identified by the data identifier module310and/or personal data that is subject to the policy assigned by the policy assigner module330. Further details with regard to monitoring data (e.g., by the data identifier module330) are disclosed with relation toFIG.8. As shown inFIG.3, the policy management module220may further include an alert notifier module350. In some embodiments, the alert notifier module350may receive an indication from the data monitor module340that an access of personal data subject to the policy assigned by the policy assigner module330has been detected. In response to such detection, the alert notifier module350may notify the user of the electronic device200of the detection of an instance of an application accessing the personal data. Further details with regard to such notifications (e.g., by the alert notifier module350) are disclosed with relation toFIG.10. The policy management module220may further include a policy reporter module360. In some embodiments, the policy reporter module360may receive notifications from the alert notifier350of access to personal data by one or more applications. The policy reporter module360may aggregate the notifications that are received from the alert notifier350and generate a report comprising information detailing which applications (e.g., applications from the plurality of application202and203) have accessed personal data. The generated report may be stored in the reports storage380and may further be presented to a user of the electronic device200. Further details with regard to the generation and presentation of reports (e.g., by the policy reporter module360) are disclosed with relation toFIG.9.

FIG.4illustrates a flow diagram of a method400for using personal data and a policy. As shown, at step410, personal data may be received. For example, the data identifier module310of the policy management module220may receive or identify personal data stored in memory on the mobile communications device. In some embodiments, the personal data may be stored on the electronic device200. At step420, a policy may be generated based on the personal data. For example, the policy creator module320of the policy management module220may create or generate the policy based on the personal data that was received at step410. In some embodiments, the policy may comprise a set of instructions used to identify data and/or actions to be performed for the identified data. For example, the policy may be a data leakage policy that is used to identify different types of data stored on the electronic device200, monitor the different types of data, and/or control access to the different types of data. In some embodiments, the policy may be generated based on some amount of personal data in order to identify additional personal data. For example, a plurality of personal data may be stored on the electronic device200. A subset of the plurality of personal data may be identified or received by the policy management module220and a policy may be generated based on the subset of the personal data stored on the electronic device200. The policy may then be used to identify additional personal data stored on the electronic device200. As such, the policy may be created based on a smaller set of personal data and then used to detect or identify a larger set of personal data. Thus, at step430, additional data may be identified based on the created policy.

As such, the policy may be created based on an initial set of personal data. In some embodiments, the initial set of personal data may be identified based on one or more methods. For example, the initial set of personal data may be identified based on known sources of personal data. Such locations on an electronic device200may include, but are not limited to, databases of user information, email databases associated with the electronic device200(e.g., locations of stored emails), contact information (e.g., a contact list or phone book on the electronic device200), SMS information (e.g., SMS messages sent or received on the electronic device200), etc. As such, there may be one or more defined or known storage locations on the electronic device200that contain personal data. The personal data in the defined or known storage locations may then be used to generate a policy to identify additional personal data stored on the electronic device200. Thus, the policy may be generated based on exact data matching from the defined or known storage locations of personal data.

In some embodiments, the policy may be generated based on indexed document matching. For example, the policy may be generated based on text in one or more known personal data files. Additional data that matches at least some of the text in the one or more known personal data files may then be identified by the policy as personal data that is to be monitored. Thus, the profile may be generated based on text in a document or corpus of documents. In the same or alternative embodiments, personal data may be identified based on data identifiers. For example, a social security number may be identified in a personal data file based on its nine digits and optional dashes. Files that include such a data identifier may be used in the creation of the policy. The policy may further be generated based on a classifier. For example, a classifier (e.g., a Support Vector Machine that analyzes data and recognizes patterns) may analyze a set of personal data files (e.g., from defined or previously known locations on the electronic device200) sorted by classification and the resulting model may be used to identify additional personal data that matches the classifications of the model.

Thus, the policy may be generated based on known sets of data (e.g., personal data) stored at known locations (e.g., an email account, file system locations, contacts list, etc.) or known uses of the electronic device200. The policy may then be used to identify additional sets of data (e.g., additional personal data) stored at other locations on the electronic device200.

FIG.5illustrates a flow diagram of a method500to create and assign a policy to an electronic device (e.g., electronic device200). In general, the method500may be performed by the policy management module220to report access of monitored personal data by the operating system and/or at least one application executing on the device.

As shown inFIG.5, the method500may identify, at step510, one or more locations of stored data on the electronic device. For example, the data identifier module310of the policy management module220may identify one or more known or predefined locations where personal data is stored on the electronic device. In some embodiments, the one or more known or predefined locations may include, but is not limited to, a location in the file storage system of the electronic device, storage for emails received or downloaded by the electronic device from an email account of the user associated with the electronic device, a storage location for a contacts list (e.g., phone numbers and addresses) associated with the electronic device, and a subscriber identification module (SIM) that may store the IMSI, ICCID, SMS messages, phone book contacts, and other data of the electronic device. At step520, personal data may be identified from the one or more known or predefined locations. In some embodiments, the data stored in the one or more known or predefined locations may be identified as personal data. For example, the method500may identify any data stored on the SIM card, contacts list, email account, etc. as being personal data. Next, at step530, a policy (e.g., a data leakage policy) may be created based on the personal data identified at step520. For example, the policy creator320of the policy management module220may create or generate the policy based on the personal data that has been identified at one or more known or predefined locations on the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the created policy may also be stored in the policies storage370. At step540, the policy may be assigned to the electronic device. For example, the policy assigner module330of the policy management module220may assign the policy to the electronic device200. The method500may further monitor data based on the assigned policy. For example, the data monitor module340of the policy management module220may monitor data based on the policy. In some embodiments, the monitored data may be additional personal data (e.g., personal data from a plurality of locations associated with the electronic device) that has matched or been identified by the policy. In the same or alternative embodiments, the monitoring of the data may be performed in response to the assigning of the policy. For example, different personal data may be monitored based on the policy that has been assigned to the electronic device.

At step560, an access of the monitored data may be detected. For example, the data monitor340of the policy management module220may detect an application (e.g., from the plurality of applications202and203) that is executed on the electronic device200has accessed personal data that has been identified by the policy. In some embodiments, the detected access of the personal data by the application may involve the application accessing the personal data from the file system of the electronic device and/or transferring the personal data from the electronic device to another destination (e.g., a server, another electronic device, etc.) over a network (e.g., the Internet or cellular network). At step570, the access of the monitored data may be reported. For example, the alert notifier350of the policy management module220may generate an alert notification for the user of the electronic device and/or the policy reporter360of the policy management module220may generate a report based on the detection of an application accessing personal data that has been identified by the policy. Further details with regard to reporting the access of the monitored personal data are disclosed with relation toFIGS.9and10.

As such, one or more known or predefined locations or known or predefined sources of personal data stored on an electronic device may be identified. The data from the predefined locations or predefined sources may be identified as personal data. A policy may be created based on the personal data from the predefined locations or predefined sources. The policy may be assigned to the electronic device and the policy may be used to identify additional personal data (e.g., the personal data from the known or predefined locations or sources as well as additional personal data elsewhere on the electronic device). The additional personal data may be monitored. If an application that is executed on the electronic device accesses the monitored personal data, then a user of the electronic device may be notified of the access of the monitored personal data. Furthermore, a report may be created to detail and provide additional information with regard to the access of the personal data on the electronic device.

FIG.6illustrates a flow diagram of a method600to create a policy based on personal data stored on a device. In general, a policy management module220may receive or identify a plurality of types of personal data associated with an electronic device200and/or a user of the electronic device200and may generate a policy based on the personal data.

As shown inFIG.6, the method600may receive, at step610, a personal contacts database stored on an electronic device200. The personal contacts database may include contact information from a contact list or phone book stored on the electronic device. In some embodiments, the contact list may comprise information to identify a plurality of phone contacts and a phone history log (e.g., phone numbers and/or identities of users associated with the phone numbers that the electronic device200has placed calls to or received calls from). In the same or alternative embodiments, the personal contacts database may also include an SMS log or history and any other identifier used in inbound or outbound communication from the electronic device200. As such, the method600may receive communication-related information associated with the electronic device200. The communication-related information may be based on the use of the electronic device200(e.g., of prior phone calls, prior SMS messages, etc. that were placed or received by the electronic device). Furthermore, at step620, the method600may receive a personal email database stored on the device. The personal email database may include emails from a personal email account that is associated with a user of the electronic device200. For example, the electronic device200may be configured to access one or more personal email accounts of a user and downloads and/or to transmit email messages to and from the electronic device200. At step630, the method600may receive personal files stored on the file system of the device. For example, any type of personal data stored on the file system of the electronic device200may be received. Examples of such personal data may include, but is not limited to, web-related information such as web browser history, browser cookies, browser's installed extensions or plug-ins, HTML5 local storage, and application data and personal-related information of a user of the electronic device. The method600may further receive, at step640, device specific data. For example, device-related information of the electronic device200may be received. In some embodiments, the device-related information may include any type of unique identifier associated with the electronic device including, but not limited to, the IMEI, IMSI, ICCID, MEID, ESN, UDID, MAC address, and a phone number. At step650, data created by the device may be received. For example, photos created from a camera of the electronic device200, sensor data created by various sensors of the electronic device (e.g., location data from a GPS component), or any type of log or history information created by the electronic device may be received. At step660, a personal use of the device may be identified. For example, information indicating that a user of the electronic device200uses the electronic device to check one or more email accounts, has certain applications installed (e.g., application-related information), uses the electronic device to connect to various websites, uses a telephone functionality of the electronic device200, uses an SMS functionality of the electronic device200, uses a camera component of the electronic device200to take photos, and has activated a location determination component (e.g., GPS), etc. may be identified. As such, use-related information of the electronic device200may be identified.

At step670, a policy may be generated based on the received or identified data or information. As previously disclosed with relation toFIG.4, the policy may be generated based on personal data. For example, the policy may be generated based on personal data stored on a mobile communications device. Thus, the policy may be considered a custom policy created specifically for the mobile communications device based on the personal data that is currently stored on the mobile communications device. In some embodiment, the policy may be generated based on the personal data stored on the mobile communications device as well as features of the mobile communications device. Examples of the features of the mobile communications device include, but are not limited to, functionality of the mobile communications device (e.g., a camera, location determination components, etc.) and an operating system executed on the mobile communications device. As such, the generated policy may be at least partly platform specific (e.g., specific to an operating system of the mobile communications device) and/or at least partly based on the personal data stored on the mobile communications device.

Although the steps described above disclose certain types of data or information, any type of personal data or device specific data or information may be used received and/or identified to generate the policy. For example, data on a storage device (e.g., a non-volatile memory card such as a Secure Digital card) coupled to the electronic device200may be used to generate the policy.

FIG.7illustrates a flow diagram of a method700to create a policy based on personal data associated with a device and data from a server. As shown inFIG.7, at step710, an identification of personal data stored on a device may be performed. Such personal data may include any of the types of data associated with the electronic device disclosed herein. At step720, server data may be received. For example, server analysis data may be received by the policy management module220of the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the server may be a remote server (e.g., a server in communication with the electronic device200over a network) and may receive data from the electronic device200. The server may then analyze the data and transmit data based on the analysis to the electronic device. In some embodiments, the server may receive an identification of specific applications that have been installed and/or are executed on the electronic device200and may transmit data based on such identification to the electronic device200. For example, the server may provide an analysis based on known behavior of the applications that have been installed on the electronic device. Such known behavior may include types of personal data that the installed applications are known to access.

In some embodiments, the server may also create a set of per application data. For example, the server may create fake or false personal data and transmit the fake or false personal data to the electronic device200. As such, the fake or false personal data may be unique and access of the fake or false personal data may be monitored (e.g., by the policy management module220). The fake or false personal data generated may be unique to the particular application, or may be unique to the particular device, or may be unique to the particular user who is using the device, or may be unique to any combination of the above. If any application accesses the fake or false personal data, then the access may be tracked (e.g., determine if the fake or false data was transmitted off of the electronic device200over a network) and the server and/or electronic device may identify the application that has accessed the fake or false personal data. Furthermore, a report may be generated to alert the user that the application is accessing the fake or false personal data. Additionally, any subsequent detection of the attempted use of the unique fake or false personal data (e.g., a fake phone number or fake email address) by receiving a communication at the unique fake or false address may result in reporting the usage to the user, identifying that the application for which the fake or false data was generated is an abuser of personal data (e.g., the application is attempting unauthorized access of personal data), and tracking the origin of the communication involving the fake or false address. A policy to disallow access by such an application to personal data may be created and distributed to multiple devices. In a specific embodiment, a known data leaking app or website may be provided with fake information in response to any attempts by the app or website to obtain personal data. In another embodiment apps or web applications can in a laboratory setting be run in a dynamic analysis or emulator farm which is capable of in depth instrumentation on all operations of the app or web application, e.g., crashes, locations accessed on the device or on the network, any personal data access or leakage, type and contents of network traffic, memory usage growth, processor usage over time, number of calls or SMS or other messages sent. Such apps or web applications in the laboratory can be provided with fake data, e.g., email addresses or phone numbers. Subsequent detection of messages or calls to these identifiers can characterize the app or website application as leaking personal data. Such characterization can be used to formulate specific policy for said app or website application, or for other apps or website applications developed by the same developer (as indicated by app signature) or organization (as indicated by domain of the web application). Additionally, app developers can be notified if the developer's app or website application is exhibiting insecure behavior or is capturing or transmitting or otherwise using personal data.

Returning toFIG.7, at step730, the policy may be created based on the data associated with the device and the data associated with the server. Furthermore, at step740, the policy may be assigned to the electronic device.

In some embodiments, the policy may be created based on personal data associated with a plurality of devices. For example, different types of personal data may be stored on different devices. A policy may then be generated based on the different types of personal data on the plurality of devices and the policy may be applied to each of the plurality of devices. For example, devices may exchange the identification of the personal data with each other or may transmit to a server the identification of the personal data. The server may optionally provide server analysis data as previously disclosed and may receive the identification of the personal data from the plurality of devices and generate a policy based on the personal data from the plurality of devices. The policy may then be transmitted back to each device and assigned to each of the devices. Thus, a portable policy (e.g., a policy applied to any mobile device) may be created at the server and applied to a plurality of devices.

FIG.8illustrates a method800to monitor data and record access of the monitored data based on the application of a policy. In general, the data monitor module340of the policy management module220may monitor personal data identified by the policy as data for which access should be monitored and the alert notifier module350and policy reporter360of the policy management module220may alert a user of the electronic device200of access of personal data and generate a report aggregating a plurality of detected accesses of personal data by one or more applications.

As shown inFIG.8, at step810, a policy may be assigned to the electronic device. For example, the policy may be assigned by the policy management module220. At step820, personal data associated with the electronic device may be monitored based on the assigned policy. For example, the assigned policy may be used to identify personal data that is accessible by the electronic device. Such identified personal data may then be monitored for access by one or more applications executed on the electronic device. At step830, a determination may be made as to whether access of the personal data that has been monitored at step820has been detected. If no such access has been detected, then the method800may return to monitoring the personal data at step820. However, if a detection of the personal data occurs, then at step840, a user of the electronic device may be notified of the application that has accessed or is attempting to access the monitored personal data. For example, an alert notification may be displayed on a screen of the electronic device and comprise information indicating that a specific piece of personal data is being accessed by a particular application. In some embodiments, the alert notification may also include options to allow or disallow the attempted access of the personal data by the application. Further details with regard to such an alert notification are disclosed with relation toFIG.10. Furthermore, at step850, the access or attempted access of the monitored personal data by the application may be recorded and/or aggregated (e.g., with other reported access of personal data by applications) to be included in a generated report. Further details with regard to such a report are disclosed with relation toFIG.9. In some embodiments, the method may return to the monitoring of access to the personal data at step820after such notifications and/or generation of such reports.

In some embodiments, access of the personal data by one or more applications (e.g., at step830) may be detected by various methods. Examples of such methods include, but are not limited to, configuring the operating system of the electronic device to detect such access (e.g., the policy management module220is a part of the operating system), monitoring system logs and/or file system logs (e.g., identifying access of personal data from scanning the file system logs), and inserting the policy management module220as a browser plug-in and detecting if a browser is accessing personal data on the electronic device.

In some embodiments, the access of the personal data may be detected based on application containerization or electronic device containerization (e.g., mobile device containerization). The containerization may involve an approach to create separate environments for applications and/or personal data. For example, an encrypted space or folder on the electronic device200may be used to store personal data and/or applications. In some embodiments, the containerization may involve application wrapping. For example, application wrapping container may involve using the operating system of the electronic device200and application program interfaces (APIs) to provide a sandboxed environment for personal data and/or applications. This may be performed for each set of personal data or for each application. In some embodiments, such a process may result in each application being enclosed in its own unique container. As such, a container may be placed around individual applications or sets of applications. Furthermore, the attempted access to the personal data may be detected based on API accesses of the containers. For example, the policy management module220may detect the API attempt or actual access to the personal data from one or more applications. The application wrapping container may rewire sensitive API calls to the personal data sources and filter access to the personal data sources. Such an application wrapping container may enable the monitoring of encrypted network traffic (e.g., SSL library hooking) and not allow access to the personal data sources by hooking and disabling the APIs of the applications with the application wrapping container or even disabling the functionality of the applications to transmit the personal data over a network or writing the personal data to an unsecure portion of the file system. As such, the detection of the access of personal data by one or more applications may be based on detecting API access (e.g., corresponding to an application wrapping container) and/or based on detecting a transmission of the personal data over a network. Further embodiments may detect access of personal data based on a server side characterization, as discussed in further detail below. Thus, the applications may be run in a container.

In some embodiments, the containerization process as disclosed above may be performed with respect to the storage of personal data. For example, a container wrapper may be configured on the electronic device200to be applied to personal data that is identified on the electronic device. Any access to the personal data must then use the interface (e.g., API) of the container wrapper applied to the personal data in order to access the personal data. As such, personal data may be identified on the electronic device200and places the container wrapper around the personal data. In some embodiments, the personal data may then be encrypted and/or placed elsewhere on the electronic device200(e.g., in an encrypted folder on the file system). In the same or alternative embodiments, a bloom filter may be used to detect access to personal data. For example, a bloom filter associated with the personal data may be stored on the device and when a ‘hit’ of the bloom filter is detected (e.g., an application accessing personal data associated with the bloom filter), a remote server may be notified of the ‘hit’ of the bloom filter and provide a confirmation or identification of the specific personal data subject to the ‘hit’ of the bloom filter. In some embodiments, the containerization of the personal data may involve the use of a hook mechanism, as previously disclosed with relation to the application wrapping container. For example, a hook may be performed at the file system level, at an operating system level, on a virtual machine (VM), or on hardware (e.g., a special processor or Field Programmable Gate Array configured to detect access to personal data). In some embodiments, an interrupt may be raised or called in response to a detection of access to the personal data in memory, to and from a storage device, to and from a network interface, and as a parameter call (e.g., intra-application or inter-application calls or an application to system call).

In some embodiments, the access to the personal data from one or more applications may be based on a transmission of the personal data. For example, the policy management module220may detect that an application has transmitted personal data from the electronic device200to another destination (e.g., a server or another device) over a network. As such, the detection of the access of personal data may be based on identifying one or more applications transmitting the personal data off of the electronic device200. Thus, the detection of the access to the personal data may be based on network traffic and observing that personal data has been transmitted from the electronic device200over a network.

In some embodiments, the access to the personal data may also be detected based on a dynamic analysis. For example, a server may provide a characterization of an application that identifies what the application may leak (e.g., what kind of personal data is accessed and/or transmitted by the application). In some embodiments, a virtual private network (VPN) may be configured on the electronic device200. The VPN may then be used to monitor access to personal data. For example, network access by applications may be monitored within the VPN environment and personal data that is transmitted over the network may be detected. Further details with regard to monitoring network access by application within the VPN environment are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/071,366, entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SECURE NETWORK CONNECTIONS,” filed on Nov. 4, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference. Thus, network traffic associated with the electronic device200may be monitored for personal data leaving or being transmitted from the electronic device.

In some embodiments, the application container wrapper may be used to monitor a copy and paste function associated with the application. For example, the application container wrapper may hook the copy and paste function and apply the policy to the data contents of the copy and paste function being performed. Thus, the policy may monitor the copy and paste function for the presence of personal data. For example, if monitored personal data may be observed to be copied and pasted and such an act may be recorded or the copying and pasting of the monitored personal data may not be allowed.

In some embodiments, the policy may have been transmitted to a server111or to a piece of the infrastructure of the network121(such as a network access point or a switch or a router), which can observe the content of the communications from the device. The policy may be enforced on that location by inspecting the contents of the communications from the device for the presence of personal data. Notification messages can be sent to the owner or administrator of the device upon such detections. A communication whose content includes personal data may be blocked, depending on the specifics allowed in the policy. A command may be sent to the device to terminate the application which sent the personal data. The server or piece of network infrastructure may use special certificates in place of original site certificates to allow the inspection of SSL/TLS traffic; that is, the server or piece of network infrastructure is performing a sanctioned Man in the Middle (MiTM) operation in which there are two separate secured sessions from the server or piece of network infrastructure, one from the server or piece of network infrastructure to the original network destination using that location's valid certificate, and one from the server or piece of network infrastructure to the device using the specially provided certificate.

FIG.9illustrates an example of a personal data access report900displaying instances of access to monitored data based on a policy. In general, the personal data access report900may be generated by the policy reporter360of the policy management module220to display detected access of monitored personal data based on a policy by at least one application executed on the electronic device200. The personal data access report900may be based upon a plurality of detected accesses of the monitored personal data. For example, the personal data access900may include information to identify and further describe an aggregation of a plurality of instances of access to personal data stored on the electronic device200by one or more applications.

As shown inFIG.9, the personal data access report900may include multiple entries where each entry corresponds to at least one application that is executed on the electronic device200and has been detected to access monitored personal data within a particular time frame. For example, the monitored personal data access report900may be generated based on a particular time frame. Each detected access of personal data by an application during the time frame may be recorded and a plurality of the instances of detected access may be aggregated to form the personal data access report900for the time frame. As such, each of the entries921,922, and923of the personal data access report900may represent an application that has been detected to access at least one monitored personal data. In some embodiments, the personal data access report900may further include multiple fields for each of the entries. For example, an application identifier field920, personal data identifier field930, time field940, transmission field950, and an encrypted field960may be displayed as part of the personal data access report900for each of the entries921,922, and923.

In some embodiments, the application identifier field920may identify an application that has been detected to access monitored personal data. For example, the application identifier field920may identify an application that is executed on the electronic device200that has been detected to access monitored personal data associated with the electronic device200. In the example shown inFIG.9, the entry921may be associated with the application identifier field920identifying a first application, the entry922may be associated with the application identifier field920identifying a second application, and the entry923may be associated with the application identifier field920identifying a third application. As such, a plurality of applications may be identified as having accessed monitored personal data. The personal data access report900may further include a personal data identifier field930. In some embodiments, the personal data identifier field930may display information to identify a type of personal data that has been accessed by a corresponding application. For example, the personal data identifier field930may indicate that the first application corresponding to entry921has accessed personal data including contacts (e.g., contacts or phone numbers stored on the electronic device200) and emails (e.g., emails accessed from an email account by the electronic device200). The personal data identifier field930may also indicate that the second application corresponding to the entry922has accessed monitored personal data for a location (e.g., a location of the electronic device200obtained from a functionality of the electronic device such as a sensor) and that the third application corresponding to entry923has accessed personal data for a camera (e.g., camera photos created and stored on the electronic device200) and one or more files on the file system of the electronic device200. As such, the personal data identifier field930may identify a plurality of types of personal data that one or more applications have accessed. The time field940may indicate a time that each of the applications has accessed the corresponding personal data. For example, the time field940as shown identifies that the first application has accessed the contacts personal data at a first time and the emails personal data at a second time. The time field940further indicates that the second application has accessed the location personal data at a third time and that the third application has accessed both the camera personal data and the file system personal data at a fourth time. In some embodiments, the personal data access report900may further display a transmission field950. In the same or alternative embodiments, the transmission field950may indicate whether an application from the entries921,922, and/or923has transmitted the personal data from the personal data identifier field930from the electronic device200to another destination (e.g., another device or server) over a network associated with the electronic device200. For example, the transmission field950may indicate that the first application corresponding to entry921has transmitted both the contacts personal data and the email personal data from the electronic device200over a network. The transmission field950may further indicate that the second application corresponding to entry922has transmitted the location personal data from the electronic device200over a network and that the third application corresponding to entry923has not transmitted the camera personal data and file system personal data from the electronic device200over the network.

As shown inFIG.9, the personal data access report900may further include an encrypted field960. In some embodiments, the encrypted field960may indicate whether an application that has transmitted personal data off of the electronic device200did so while encrypting the personal data or transmitted the personal data without encrypting the personal data. For example, the encrypted field960may identify that the first application that transmitted the contacts personal data and email personal data did not encrypt either of the types of personal data that it accessed and subsequently transmitted. The encrypted field960may further identify that the second application encrypted the location personal data before transmitting the location personal data over the network. In some embodiments the personal data access report may also indicate where personal data was transmitted (e.g., a network destination).

The personal data access report900for a specific device may further include a count of all the items of a particular type of personal data that were accessed or a portion of or all of the actual personal data that was accessed. Furthermore, the personal data access report900may contain information regarding the context on the device at the time of access to the personal data. For example, the report may also record what applications were open at the time of access of the personal data, whether the electronic device was locked or unlocked, whether the accessing application was in the foreground (e.g., displayed) or not in the foreground (e.g., not displayed). In some embodiments, a personal data policy may have thresholds for each type of personal data access that is considered normal or allowable, for any application or for specific named applications, and the personal data access report may only report instances where the personal data policy is being violated.

As such, the personal data access report900may aggregate multiple instances of access of personal data by one or more applications. The personal data access report900may identify a particular type of personal data accessed by each of the applications, a time when the personal data was accessed by each of the applications, whether each application transmitted each accessed personal data off of the electronic device200, and whether the personal data that was transmitted was encrypted or not. Thus, the personal data access report900may display the type of personal data or personal data related functionality of the electronic device that an application has accessed as well as additional details with regard to the type of personal data. Aggregated personal data access report information (with any personal data removed) may be made available separately to provide information to users about the personal data behavior or particular applications. For example, such information may be provided as part of a privacy report about applications, as additional information in application stores, or in databases of information about application characteristics or behavior. In some embodiments, an application installer on the electronic device200may use such a database of information about application characteristics or behavior in conjunction with a personal data policy to determine whether an application is allowed to be installed on the electronic device. For example, the user's or device's personal data policy may disallow applications which have a behavior of large scale access to contacts and the database of information about applications may indicate that application X has such a behavior. Thus, the application installer would not allow the installation of application X on the electronic device.

Although the personal data access report900shows certain types of fields and personal data, any type of personal data or fields identifying any type of information may be aggregated and/or displayed in the personal data access report900. For example, the personal data access report900may further display a destination (e.g., IP address) that personal data was transmitted to, whether the electronic device was in a lock mode (e.g., an operation of the electronic device where user functionality of buttons or keys is disabled) or not in the lock mode, etc. In some embodiments, the personal data access report900may also display more detailed information. For example, specific contacts, emails, locations, camera photos, and files of the personal data that were accessed by the applications may be identified.

It may be normal for an application to access some personal data in the course of its operation. For example, an application that is designed to send emails or text messages may access a small number of contacts (e.g., a phone book, email list, etc.) on the electronic device and an application designed to backup data from the electronic device would in normal operation access all of the contacts on the electronic device. But it would not be normal for most applications to access a large number of contacts on the electronic device or all of the contacts on the electronic device. Recording the frequency of access to categories of personal data is used to prepare personal data access reports and may be used to develop policies on a per application basis regarding how much personal data may be accessed per application. For example, the application X that is designed for backing up contacts from the electronic device could have a policy that allows application X unlimited access to the contacts on the electronic device. However, the contacts policy for the electronic device may disallow any other application from accessing more than a configurable number or percentage of the contacts on the electronic device. For example, the policy could prevent other applications from accessing more than 20 contacts or more than 10% of the contacts on the device. The policy enforcement may have actions of reporting the attempted access, asking the user for permission for the application to perform the large scale access, or denying the large scale access. As such, a policy may be configured to allow for different amounts of personal data that may be accessed for different applications executed on the electronic device. The policy may define which types of personal data may be accessed by certain applications and which applications may not access a particular type of personal data.

In some embodiments, the policy may further define which destinations to which personal data may be transmitted. For example, the policy may allow a first set of personal data to be transmitted from the electronic device to a first network location (e.g., a website or server), but may not allow the first set of personal data to be transmitted from the electronic device to a second network location. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the policy may allow certain applications to be able to transmit personal data from the electronic device to a network location, but may not allow other applications to transmit personal data to a network location. In the same or alternative embodiments, the policy may allow specific applications to transmit specific personal data to a specific network location, but may not allow the applications to transmit other personal data to another network location or the specific personal data to another network location. As such, the policy may be used to allow or not allow access to personal data or transmission of personal data from the electronic device based on any combination of applications, personal data, and network locations (e.g., on a per application basis, per personal data basis, and/or per network location basis).

In some embodiments, the monitored personal data may be detected to be off of the electronic device. For example, a search engine may be used (e.g., by a server) to detect the monitored personal data at other servers or websites on the Internet. For example, the false or fake personal data as previously disclosed may be searched for on the Internet. In some embodiments, social network accounts for a user may be scanned to find or detect monitored personal data. Such a presence of personal data being off of the electronic device and found on another server or website may indicate that one or more applications executed on the electronic device is accessing personal data and transmitting the personal data off of the electronic device to another location. In some embodiments, a user may securely register his or her personal data with a search engine and the search engine may notify the user when the user's personal data is detected during a web crawl performed by the search engine.

In some embodiments, the personal data access report900may be sent to a server to be used to characterize personal data access patterns of one or more applications that are included in the personal data access report900. For example, personal data access patterns may be identified by application or network location (e.g., website or network address). Thus, the server may be able to characterize which applications are accessing personal data as well as which network locations are receiving personal data that is transmitted from the electronic device.

FIG.10illustrates a graphical user interface1000notifying a user of an attempt to access monitored personal data. In general, the graphical user interface1000may provide a user of an electronic device200with an option to either allow or not allow access to monitored personal data by an application executed on the electronic device200.

As shown inFIG.10, the graphical user interface1000may display a notification1010. For example, the notification1010may correspond to an attempt by an application executed on the electronic device200to access monitored personal data on the electronic device200. In some embodiments, the notification1010may identify the application that is requesting or attempting to access personal data and/or the type of personal data that the application is requesting to access or is attempting to access. The graphical user interface1000may further include buttons to allow a user of the electronic device200to either allow or not allow the application to access the personal data. For example, the graphical user interface1000may include a ‘no’ button1030to not allow the application to access the personal data or a ‘yes’ button1020to allow the application to access the personal data. As such, a user of the electronic device200may be notified of each access by an application to personal data that is monitored based on the policy. Thus, the graphical user interface1000may provide a user of the electronic device200with a gated decision associated with applications attempting to access monitored personal data.

In some embodiments, a personal data access policy may be pushed to an electronic device from a server when a user logs in to the electronic device.

In the description above and throughout, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of an embodiment of this disclosure. It will be evident, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art, that an embodiment may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to facilitate explanation. The description of the preferred embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims appended hereto. Further, in the method disclosed herein, various steps are disclosed illustrating some of the functions of an embodiment. These steps are merely examples, and are not meant to be limiting in any way. Other steps and functions may be contemplated without departing from this disclosure or the scope of an embodiment.