Information processing apparatus and method of setting security thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9536099-B2
Application number	US-89906610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2010
Priority date	Nov 18, 2009
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes an accepting unit that accepts from a user a command relating to security; a setting unit that makes a setting relating to security of the information processing apparatus based upon the command from the user accepted by the accepting unit; a recording unit that performs the following operation in a case where the accepting unit has accepted a command for changing a security-related setting that has already been made by the setting unit: before the setting unit changes the security-related setting, the recording unit records an event, among events that occur in the information processing apparatus, the content of which will be different between a case where the security-related setting is changed and a case where the security-related setting is not changed; and a notification unit that notifies the user based upon the event that has been recorded by the recording unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:
a central processing unit configured to function as:
a setting unit that selects a security-related setting based upon a command from a user to change a security-related setting;
a determination unit that determines at least one network port to be closed, based on the security-related setting selected by the setting unit;
a recording unit that starts monitoring of the at least one network port to be closed in response to the command from the user to change a security-related setting, while the security-related setting selected by the setting unit is not applied and the network port to be closed remains open, so as to record information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed; and
a notification unit that provides notification of the information recorded by said recording unit,

wherein said setting unit determines whether to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit, and
said setting unit applies, after said notification unit provides notification of the information recorded by the recording unit, the security-related setting selected by the setting unit so as to close the network port to be closed in response to the determination to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said setting unit determines whether to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit based on a command from a user.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the command from the user is for changing an already-set security level, from among a plurality of security levels, to a different security level.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said setting unit applies the security-related setting in accordance with the command from the user when no external devices have accessed the network port determined by said determination unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said setting unit determines whether said recording unit recorded the information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed while the apparatus is in a preliminary check mode, and automatically applies the security-related setting selected by the setting unit in response to determining that said recording unit did not record the information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said setting unit determines whether said recording unit recorded the information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed within a predetermined time period from reception of the command from the user, and automatically applies the selected security-related setting in response to determining that said recording unit did not record the information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed.

7. A method of setting security of an information processing apparatus, comprising the steps of:
selecting a security-related setting based upon a command from a user to change a security-related setting;
determining at least one network port to be closed based on the security-related setting selected in said setting step;
monitoring by the information processing apparatus the at least one network port to be closed in response to the command from the user to change a security-related setting, while the security-related setting selected in the setting step is not applied and the network port to be closed remains open, so as to record information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed
providing notification of the information recorded in said recording step;
determining whether to apply the security-related setting selected in the setting step; and
applying, after providing the notification of the information recorded in said recording step, the security-related setting selected in the setting step so as to close the network port to be closed in response to the determination to apply the security-related setting selected in the setting step.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform the steps of:
selecting a security-related setting based upon a command from a user to change a security-related setting;
determining at least one network port to be closed based on the security-related setting selected in said selecting step;
monitoring the at least one network port to be closed in response to the command from the user to change a security-related setting, while the security-related setting selected in the selecting step is not applied and the network port to be closed remains open, so as to record information concerning an external device that has accessed the network port to be closed;
providing notification of the information recorded in said recording step;
determining whether to apply the security-related setting selected in the selecting step; and
applying, after providing the notification of the information recorded in said recording step, the security-related setting selected in the selecting step so as to close the network port to be closed in response to determining to apply the security-related setting selected in the selecting step.

9. An information processing apparatus comprising:
a central processing unit configured to function as:
an accepting unit that accepts a command from a user to change a security-related setting;
a setting unit that selects a security-related setting of the information processing apparatus based upon the command accepted by said accepting unit;
a recording unit that starts monitoring an access from an external device to the information processing apparatus in response to the command from the user to change a security-related setting, so as to record an access log of an access from an external device to the information processing apparatus while the security-related setting selected by the setting unit is not applied, wherein the access log includes at least one of:
(i) an access log of an access from an external device to the information processing apparatus that is not accepted based upon a current security-related setting before applying the security-related setting selected by the setting unit and will be accepted based upon the security-related setting selected by the setting unit; and
(ii) an access log of an access from an external device to the information processing apparatus that is accepted based upon the current security-related setting before applying the security-related setting selected by the setting unit and will not be accepted based upon the security-related setting selected by the setting unit; and
a notification unit that provides notification of the access from the external device to the user based on the access log record by the recording unit,

wherein said setting unit determines whether to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit, and
said setting unit applies, after said notification unit provides the notification of the access from the external device to the user based on the access log recorded by the recording unit, the security-related setting selected by the setting unit in response to determining to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein said setting unit determines whether to apply the security-related setting selected by the setting unit based upon a command from a user.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the setting unit selects the security-related setting by

Assignees

• Iwadate Masahiro
• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Iwadate Masahiro

Classifications

• G06F21/10

  Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material (protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16) {; Digital rights management [DRM]} · CPC title

• G06F21/604 Primary

  Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems · CPC title

• H04L63/20

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title