Granted Patent B2

US 12,417,263 · App. 17/171,615 · Granted Sep 16, 2025

Inventor: Andrew Paul Montgomery (London, GB)

Assignee: Bank of America Corporation

G06F21/14G06F9/3818G06F9/445G06F21/1066

Abstract

Claims (41)

1. A computing device, comprising:

at least one processor;

a communication interface communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:

load, by a web browser, first executable code of a browser extension;

process, by the web browser, the first executable code to load a file, wherein the file comprises file content and metadata;

decode, by the web browser, second executable code from the metadata of the file;

extract, by the web browser by processing the second executable code, obfuscated information embedded in the file content;

decode, by the web browser, the obfuscated information to extract third executable code; and

provide, by the web browser, first browser extension functionality by processing the first executable code and second browser extension functionality by executing the third executable code.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the web browser to determine whether the file contents comprise encoded steganographic information.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to extract, by the web browser processing the second executable code, the obfuscated information in the file content by causing the web browser to extract steganographic information from an image file using a least significant bit method.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the file comprises an image file.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the file comprises an audio file.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first executable code is visible to a user of the computing device.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the third executable code is obfuscated to be unviewable by a user of the computing device.

8. A method, comprising:

loading, by a web browser, first executable code of a browser extension;

processing, by the web browser, the first executable code to load a file, wherein the file comprises file content and metadata;

decoding, by the web browser, second executable code from the metadata of the file and from comments in the file content;

extracting, by the web browser by processing the second executable code, obfuscated information embedded in the file content;

decoding, by the web browser, the obfuscated information to extract third executable code; and

providing, by the web browser, first browser extension functionality by processing the first executable code and second browser extension functionality by executing the third executable code.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising determining whether the file contents comprise encoded steganographic information.

10. The method of claim 8 , comprising extracting, by the web browser processing the second executable code, the obfuscated information in the file content by causing the web browser to extract steganographic information from an image file using a least significant bit method.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the file comprises an image file.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the file comprises an audio file.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first executable code is visible to a user of a computing device.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the third executable code is obfuscated to be unviewable by a user of a computing device.

15. Non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface, cause the computing device to:

load, by a web browser, first executable code of a browser extension;

process, by the web browser, the first executable code to load a file, wherein the file comprises file content and metadata;

decode, by the web browser, second executable code from the metadata;

extract, by the web browser by processing the second executable code, obfuscated information embedded in the file content;

decode, by the web browser, the obfuscated information to extract third executable code; and

provide, by the web browser, first browser extension functionality by processing the first executable code and second browser extension functionality by executing the third executable code.

16. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the web browser to determine whether the file contents comprise encoded steganographic information.

17. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to extract, by the web browser processing the second executable code, the obfuscated information in the file content by causing the web browser to extract steganographic information from an image file using a least significant bit method.

18. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the file comprises an image file.

19. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the file comprises an audio file.

20. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 15 , wherein the third executable code is obfuscated to be unviewable by a user of the computing device.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (62)