Patent ID: 7434259

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for validating an action associated with an unauthenticated computer application, the method comprising: receiving the action associated with the unauthenticated computer application; determining whether the unauthenticated computer application is registered with a revocation list, wherein the revocation list includes a list of applications that are prohibited from installation; when the unauthenticated computer application is registered with the revocation list, failing the action without prompting; when the unauthenticated computer application is not registered with the revocation list, determining whether a recognized certificate is associated with the unauthenticated computer application, when a recognized certificate is associated with the unauthenticated computer application, determining whether the certificate is valid, when the certificate is valid, performing the action, and when the certificate is not valid, failing the action; when a recognized certificate is not associated with the unauthenticated computer application, accessing a prompt exclusion list, wherein the prompt exclusion list includes a list of hashes associated with applications, and determining whether a hash of the unauthenticated computer application matches a hash of the list of hashes; when the hash of the unauthenticated computer application matches a hash of the list of hashes, performing the action without prompting, and when the hash of the unauthenticated computer application does not match a hash of the list of hashes, prompting, performing the action and adding a hash of the unauthenticated computer application to the prompt exclusion list when an accept user input is received, and failing the action and adding the unauthenticated computer application to the revocation list when a deny user input is received.