Patent ID: 8898806

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for protecting services, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: identifying a service control manager, the service control manager having access to modify a configuration of at least one service; identifying a request from a process for permission to access the configuration of the service; in response to the request: authenticating the process based on at least one attribute of the process; providing an authentication token to the process, the authentication token authenticating the process; intercepting an attempt by the process to access the configuration of the service via the service control manager at least in part by intercepting an attempt by the process to access a configuration of a false service identified by the authentication token, the attempt using the authentication token to identify the false service instead of using an identifier of the service to identify the service; in response to the attempt, validating the authentication token; in response to validating the authentication token, allowing the process to access the configuration of the service.