Granted Patent B2

US 8,856,931 · App. 13/469,003 · Granted Oct 7, 2014

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a network, a user request to analyze data prior to downloading the data, wherein the user request includes history information associated with the data, and wherein the history information includes information indicative of a number of times an instance of the data has been previously sent to users;

analyzing the data and the history information to determine whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites; and

sending a response to the user request via the network indicative of whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the history information further includes at least one of information indicative of a number of times the data was previously downloaded, an owner to which the data is registered, or a length of time the data has been available to a user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user request includes a link associated with the data.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user request includes a hash of the data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user request includes additional information associated with the data.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the additional information includes at least one of a source of the data, a path by which the data is communicated, and a behavior of the data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is analyzed by performing a comparison of the data with known data stored in a database.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the known data includes at least one of known clean data and known unwanted data.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the response is sent in response to the comparison resulting in a match.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is analyzed by performing an automated analysis of the data and information associated therewith.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the response is sent in response to the automated analysis indicating that the data is clean.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a database of known data is updated based on the analyzing.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response prompts a display of a notification to a user.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unwanted content includes malware.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unwanted sites includes at least one of phishing sites and sites including the unwanted content.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing results of analyzed data transmitted by a plurality of clients in a database, wherein the analyzing utilizes the database.

17. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving, via a network, a user request to analyze data prior to downloading the data, wherein the user request includes history information associated with the data, and wherein the history information includes information indicative of a number of times an instance of the data has been previously sent to users;

analyzing the data and the history information to determine whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites; and

sending a response to the user request via the network indicative of whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites.

18. A method, comprising:

transmitting, via a network, a user request to analyze data prior to downloading the data, wherein the user request includes history information associated with the data, and wherein the history information includes information indicative of a number of times an instance of the data has been previously sent to users; and

receiving a response to the user request via the network, the response reflecting an analysis of the data and the history information to determine whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites that was performed, wherein the response is indicative of whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted data.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the transmitting is performed by a plug-in installed in association with a network browser.

20. A system, comprising:

a client configured to:

transmit, via a network, a user request to analyze data prior to downloading the data, wherein the user request includes history information associated with the data, and wherein the history information includes information indicative of a number of times an instance of the data has been previously sent to users; and

receive a response to the user request via the network;

a server coupled to a memory configured to:

receive the user request via the network;

analyze the data and the history information to determine whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites; and

send a response to the user request to the client via the network, wherein the response is indicative of whether the data includes one or more of unwanted content and unwanted sites.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the user request includes a link associated with the data.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein the user request includes additional information associated with the data.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the additional information includes at least one of a source of the data, a path by which the data is communicated, and a behavior of the data.

24. The system of claim 20 , wherein the data is analyzed by performing a comparison of the data with known data stored in a database.

25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the database of known data is updated based on the analyzing.

Assignments (9)