Mocana Corporation

Pharsight Corporation

Jean-Max Vally

James Blaisdell

Jon Hartlaub

Steven Louis Shafer

E Gregory Lee

Laura S Diamondstone

Devices are pre-deployed with an app security mechanism to ensure that apps that are downloaded onto the device do not cause data loss, data leakage, or other harm to the device. A user can start using the device and downloading apps in a conventional or typical manner and be assured that security measures are being taken to minimize potential harm for unsecured and secured apps. An app security enforcement layer or engine operates with, for example, a Type 2 hypervisor on the device, and ensures that any calls by the apps to the operating system of the device are generally safe. Measures such as enhancing or modifying the call, obfuscating the call, or terminating the app may be taken to protect the operating system. These actions are taken based on a policy that may be either interpreted or compiled by the enforcement engine with respect to app execution. The security measures are generally transparent to the user of the device.

Secure execution of unsecured apps on a device

Given the volume of apps being developed and downloaded, performing operations to enable security for mobile devices, such as locating relevant classes and substituting different classes, can become very inefficient when done to a very high number of apps. In the invention, a device is enabled with an app security enforcement layer. The consumer can download unsecured apps and have the app execute on the phone in a secure manner, where potential data loss to the device, such as a smart phone or tablet, is minimized. To make the security wrapping process more efficient, an app template containing markers is created. This template is merged with data in an active user policy or is used to randomize or obfuscate the code to add more security. The process of security wrapping an app becomes more efficient.

Apps are secured or security-wrapped either before they are downloaded onto a device, such as a smartphone or tablet device, or after they are downloaded but before they are allowed to access the device operating system and cause any potential damage to the device. An app provider, such as an employer or a cellphone provider, can secure its apps before consumers download an app from their app store or marketplace. The app is secured before it is allowed to access the operating system of the device, thereby preventing the app from malicious behavior. Core object code of the app is obtained and the digital signature is removed. App object code is substituted with security program object code, thereby creating a security-wrapped app. The security-wrapped app is prepared for execution on the device and is re-signed with a new key.

Securing and managing apps on a device

Methods of performing temporal logic queries, and systems for performing temporal logic queries, are disclosed. Data associated with statistical reliability criteria are annotated in a data source. Baseline data stored in the data source is summarized. Temporal data requests made upon the data source are automatically merged with the data associated with the statistical reliability criteria, to produce a statistically valid data query. Data query results are optionally provided to a statistics module for processing of statistical analyses.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Jean-Max Vally