Patent Application
20120210402
The invention relates generally to the field of computer security, and in particular to providing security for information stored on a computer server.
The pervasiveness of the Internet has allowed information to become available to a user anywhere and at anytime. A user can store his/her personal information, for example, an address book and family photos on a Web server and be able to access the personal information from, e.g., a home personal computer (PC) or from a cell phone while on vacation in a foreign country. However, unauthorized users, e.g., hackers, also have an increased opportunity to access the user's personal information to, for example, copy, delete, or modify, the user's information.
Despite the growing number of hackers ranging from mischievous teenagers to hardened criminals, the typical Web site has minimal security. A typical Web site has the user's information stored on an on-line database connected to the Web server. A user accesses his/her data via a user ID and a password. the password file is also stored on the Web server. Both the password file and all the information in the database are vulnerable to a hacker. As users begin to store sensitive information such as credit card numbers or personal medical information, on a Web site, this minimal security is inadequate.
In the case of a person's medical records, there are significant advantages to having a person's medical records available on-line, i.e., accessible on a Web server via the Internet. For example, when a person visits a specialist or a physician that is not adequately familiar with the person's medical history and/or current conditions, treatments and medications, a commercially available service is available that will allow the specialist or physician to receive and review information, including the clinical records that have been prepared by the person's previous or other current health care providers, that could indicate the cause of the current problem, help avoid redundant or unnecessary tests and conflicting or ineffective treatments, and help reduce the possibility of adverse drug reactions. However, a person's medical records are particularly sensitive and patients need to be sure of security measures before their records are available for on-line access. Conventional web servers with their on-line databases and password files provide little assurance that a person's medical records will remain secure.
Therefore what is needed is a computer security system which significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access via the Internet to sensitive information, for example, a user's personal information and more specifically, to a person's medical records stored in a database.
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, for a user, first user authentication information for a first authentication method and receiving, for the user, second user authentication information for a second authentication method. The second authentication method is different from the first authentication method. Upon authenticating the first user authentication information and the second user authentication information, the method moves a subset of data stored on a back-end storage device to a front-end storage device. The front-end storage device is directly connected to the user via a network and the back-end storage device not being directly connected to the network. The method then allows access to the subset of data for a period of time, wherein after the period of time expires, the subset of data is removed from the front-end storage device.
In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided containing instructions for controlling a computer system to be operable for: receiving, for a user, first user authentication information for a first authentication method; receiving, for the user, second user authentication information for a second authentication method, the second authentication method being different from the first authentication method; upon authenticating the first user authentication information and the second user authentication information, moving a subset of data stored on a back-end storage device to a front-end storage device, the front-end storage device being directly connected to the user via a network and the back-end storage device not being directly connected to the network; and allowing access to the subset of data for a period of time, wherein after the period of time expires, the subset of data is removed from the front-end storage device.
The following detailed description and accompanying drawings provide a better understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough description of the specific embodiments of the invention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the invention may be practiced without all the specific details given below. In other instances, well known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.
One of the major problems with sensitive information located on a Web server is that the sensitive information is continuously on-line, i.e., directly accessible via the Internet, and highly vulnerable to attack by unauthorized users such as hackers. A preferred embodiment of the present invention reduces the risk of comprise by putting the sensitive information on-line only for fixed periods of time called “access periods.” The remainder of the time the sensitive information is stored off-line.
One type of sensitive information is a patient's medical records. In one embodiment Internet access to the patient's medical records is restricted to authorized users only during access periods scheduled in advance by the patient or certain other designated users. Scheduling of access periods is performed by a voice telephone request and is therefore independent of the Internet Web Server. The caller making the voice telephone request can be authenticated as an authorized user of the sensitive information by a voice-print recognition process, by a process making use of a telephone-based token, or by traditional combinations of user ID and password. This greatly reduces the possibility of unauthorized access to a patient's medical records by the typical Internet hacking techniques. Further the medical records are not available on the Internet web server until an authorized user logs onto the web server with the appropriate authentication. The information is removed from the Internet web server when the authorized user logs off from the Internet web server (either explicitly logging out or implicitly by not accessing the Internet web server for a specified period of time) or the scheduled time period ends.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the security system supports multiple levels of user access. The owner of the medical records, identified as the patient, has the most complete set of rights. The patient can create users with surrogate rights. With the exception of access to certain information designated as private by the patient, surrogate users have the same access rights as the patient. In addition to read access to the medical records, the patient and surrogate user have write access to selected portions of the patient's medical and configuration records. Both the patient and surrogate users have the right to create additional users. The other three types of users are the provider that has write access to selected portions of the patient's medical and configuration records, the provider that does not have such write access, and the limited user. The surrogate, provider, and limited users have read access rights to all medical records except the records that the patient has designated as private records or as records not available to certain levels of user access. Table 1 below summarizes the access rights of each type of user to the patient's medical records. The users for each access level in Table 1, i.e., patient, surrogate, provider with write access, provider without write access, and limited, are all considered authorized users.
The time during which a patient's medical records are accessible on-line, i.e., the access period, is scheduled by voice and menu-based telephone instructions to a service provider's fully automated voice recognition unit (VRU) or service provider agent. The patient and the surrogate user can schedule access periods for all users in Table 1. The provider can schedule his/her own access period. Access periods for limited-rights users are available only when scheduled by a patient or a surrogate user. Note that a patient's medical records are not on-line during the entire access period, but only need to be on-line when an authorized scheduled user is logged into the Internet Web Server.
In order to increase secure communications, several IP security checks have been implemented. First, only communications between the web server 120 and the backend server 140 are allowed to pass through the security router 138. Second, the backend server 140 only accepts external database requests that originate from the web server 120 IP Address. And third, the web server 120 only accepts schedule requests and user database information from the backend server 140 IP Address.
A significant security feature of an embodiment of the present invention is the use of two separate databases, e.g., web server DB 122 and user information DB 142. The web server database 122 only contains user information required by an authorized user currently logged into the system. The complete database is stored on the user information DB 142. The fact that only a small fraction of the database is stored on the web server 122 for only limited periods of time, significantly reduces the user information that is at risk, if there is a successful unauthorized penetration of the Web Server 120.
Another significant security feature of an embodiment of the present invention is the use of two or more separate communication paths, e.g., a first primary communication path via telephone connection 128 and a separate primary communication path via connection on Internet 118. The first primary communication path is used for authentication of authorized users of specific information that is stored on user information DB 142, and for scheduling time periods to access such information. The first primary communications path, or a secondary communication path, can be used to communicate an access code to the authenticated caller. The access code enables the authorized user to initiate use of a second primary communications path that can access information that has been copied from user information DB 142. A third primary communication path, controlled by the service provider, can be used to schedule the movement information stored on user information DB 142, via the backend server 140, to web server 120 and web server DB 122. The use of multiple communications paths allows for the combination of authentication based on voice communication with Internet-based user access to protected personal or sensitive information. The use of such multiple communication paths, and the associated authentication and information-access processes, make it much more difficult for hackers to obtain unauthorized access to information that can be readily available on the Internet to authorized users. This result is attributable to the fact that many of the methods that could be used by hackers to obtain such unauthorized access to Internet-accessible information become much more complex and difficult to implement successfully in the context of such a multiple-communication-pathway security feature.
The two significant security features described in above paragraphs [0031] and can each, independently, reduce the risk of unauthorized access to information that, in authorized situations, is readily accessible via Internet 118. In combination the two security features increase the effort required to obtain unauthorized access while at the same time reducing the amount of sensitive information that could be obtained if there were a successful unauthorized penetration of the Web Server 120. By increasing the effort required and also reducing reward obtained, i.e., the amount of information accessed, if there were a successful penetration of Web Server 120, the two security features, working in combination, also reduce the risk that user information will be compromised because they significantly reduce the incentives for hackers that are hoping to benefit economically from their hacking efforts.
A significant security feature of the above embodiment of the present invention is that there are two separate codes needed to access the user information: a voice print or a personal password that is user specific and a Session ID which is specific to the particular access period. In addition the communication path, e.g., public telephone path 128, to obtain the Session ID is different than the communication path, e.g., Internet path 116 and 124, to logon to the Web server 120 at the scheduled time. Both of these security measures either alone or in combination significantly reduce the risk of an unauthorized access to user information.
As an example of the subset and set of information stored in the Web server DB 122 and User Information DB 142 during the scheduled access period by a user is illustrated in
Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described, various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, and equivalents are also encompassed within the scope of the invention. The described invention is not restricted to operation within certain specific data processing environments, but is free to operate within a plurality of data processing environments. Additionally, although the invention has been described using a particular series of transactions and steps, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the invention is not limited to the described series of transactions and steps.
Further, while the invention has been described using a particular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognized that other combinations of hardware and software are also within the scope of the invention. The invention may be implemented only in hardware or only in software or using combinations thereof.
The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.
The above description illustrates various embodiments of the present invention along with examples of how aspects of the present invention may be implemented. The above examples and embodiments should not be deemed to be the only embodiments, and are presented to illustrate the flexibility and advantages of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Based on the above disclosure and the following claims, other arrangements, embodiments, implementations and equivalents may be employed without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/079,805 titled “Method and System for Protecting Information on a Computer System”, filed Mar. 28, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/655,243 titled “Method and System for Protecting Information on a Computer System”, filed Sep. 3, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,370,349, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/408,689 titled “Method and System for Protecting Information on a Computer System” filed Sep. 5, 2002, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. This application is also a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/159,489 titled “A Patient Directed System And Method For Managing Medical Information”, filed May 31, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,320, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/349,883, filed on Jan. 18, 2002, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60408689 | Sep 2002 | US | |
| 60349883 | Jan 2002 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12079805 | Mar 2008 | US |
| Child | 13453666 | US | |
| Parent | 10655243 | Sep 2003 | US |
| Child | 12079805 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10159489 | May 2002 | US |
| Child | 10655243 | US |
