Screen shot marking and identification for device security

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10068071-B2
Application number	US-201514848805-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2015
Priority date	Sep 9, 2015
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed are examples of marking screenshots and identifying screenshots that have been marked. A client application or a computing environment can generate a watermark template for encoding in a user interface of the client application where the watermark template is not visible to the user of a client device. If a screen capture event is performed on the client device where a digital image file of a screenshot is generated, the digital image file can be analyzed to identify the presence of the watermark template. If the watermark template is identified, a remedial action can be performed in association with the screenshot.

First claim

Therefore, the following is claimed:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying program instructions executable in a client device comprising at least one hardware processor that, when executed by the client device, cause the client device to:
display, by a first client application executing on the client device, a watermark pattern in a portion of a user interface shown in a display of the client device, wherein the watermark pattern is displayed such that the watermark pattern is imperceptible to a user of the client device;
after the watermark pattern is displayed, detect, by the first client application, that a screen capture event has been performed on the client device where a digital image file of a screenshot is generated;
in response to the screen capture event being performed on the client device, send, by the first client application, the digital image file to a remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device is configured to:
determine that the digital image file of the screenshot comprises the watermark pattern displayed by the first client application; and
analyze the digital image file to determine that a user interface of a second client application is shown in the digital image file;

receive, by the first client application, a response from the remote computing device that indicates that the digital image comprises the watermark pattern and the user interface of the second client application is shown in the digital image file; and
in response to the digital image comprising the watermark pattern and the user interface of the second client application being shown in the digital image file, cause, by the first client application, performance of a remedial action in association with the digital image file.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the watermark pattern is identified in a region of the digital image file by identifying at least one pixel value for a pixel positioned a predefined distance away from a base pixel.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the at least one pixel value comprises at least one of: a red value, a green value, a blue value, or an alpha value.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the remedial action further comprises at least one of: blurring at least a portion of the digital image file; deleting the digital image file from memory; causing transmission of an electronic communication to an administrator; and replacing visual content in the digital image file with other predefined visual content that indicates that the digital image has been modified.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4 , wherein blurring the portion of the digital image further comprises:
identifying the portion of the digital image that includes sensitive information; and
blurring the portion of the digital image that includes the sensitive information.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions, when executed by the client device, are further configured to cause the client device to:
identify at least one text region in the digital image file using optical character recognition (OCR);
identify at least one term in the at least one text region;
identify a sensitivity level associated with the at least one term; and
in response to the sensitivity level associated with the at least one term exceeding a predefined threshold, cause the performance of the remedial action in association with the digital image file.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the watermark pattern displayed is selected by the first client application from a plurality of potential watermark patterns based at least in part on a sensitivity level determined from an analysis of content to be displayed simultaneously with the watermark pattern.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
displaying, by a first client application executing on a client device, a watermark pattern in a portion of a user interface shown in a display of the client device, wherein the watermark pattern is displayed such that the watermark pattern is human-imperceptible;
after the watermark pattern is displayed, detecting, by the first client application, that a screen capture event has been performed on the client device where a digital image file of a screenshot is generated;
in response to the screen capture event being performed on the client device, sending the digital image file to a remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device is configured to:
determine that the digital image file of the screenshot comprises the watermark pattern displayed by the first client application; and
analyze the digital image file to determine that a user interface of a second client application is shown in the digital image file;

receiving, by the first client application, a response from the remote computing device that indicates that the digital image comprises the watermark pattern and the user interface of the second client application is shown in the digital image file; and
in response to the digital image comprising the watermark pattern and the user interface of the second client application being shown in the digital image file, causing, by the first client application, performance of a remedial action in association with the digital image file.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the watermark pattern is identified in a region of the digital image file by identifying at least one pixel value for a pixel positioned a predefined distance away from a base pixel.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one pixel value comprises at least one of: a red value, a green value, a blue value, or an alpha value.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the remedial action further comprises at least one of: blurring at least a portion of the digital image file; deleting the digital image file from memory; causing transmission of an electronic communication to an administrator; and replacing visual content in the digital image file with other predefined visual content that indicates that the digital image has been modified.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
identifying a region of the digital image file that comprises sensitive information; and
modifying the digital image file to make the region of the digital image file that comprises the sensitive information illegible.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
identifying at least one image in the digital image file;
identifying a sensitivity level associated with the at least one image; and
in response to the sensitivity level associated with the at least one image exceeding a predefined threshold, causing the performance of the remedial action in association with the digital image file.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the watermark pattern displayed is selected by the first client application from a plurality of potential watermark patterns based at least in part on a sensitivity level determined from an analysis of content to be displayed simultaneously with the watermark pattern.

15. A system, comprising:
a client device comprising a data store and at least one hardware processor;
program instructions stored in the data store that, when executed by the client device, cause the client device to:
display, by a first client application executing on the client device, a watermark pattern in a portion of a user interface

Assignees

• Airwatch Llc

Inventors

• Shaw David
• Babu Karishma
• Hurst Evan

Classifications

• H04N1/32144 Primary

  embedded in the image data, i.e. enclosed or integrated in the image, e.g. watermark, super-imposed logo or stamp · CPC title

• G06F2221/032

  Protect output to user by software means · CPC title

• G06F21/50

  Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems · CPC title

• G06F21/6281

  at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system · CPC title

• G06F21/16 Primary

  Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking · CPC title