Controlling mobile device access to secure data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602474-B2
Application number	US-201514607593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2015
Priority date	Oct 16, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Various aspects of the disclosure relate to providing secure containers or data vaults for data of one or more managed applications. In some embodiments, each managed application may be assigned its own private data vault and/or may be assigned a shared data vault that is accessible to at least one other managed application. As the managed application executes, calls for access to the data may be intercepted and redirected to the secure containers. Data stored in a secure container may be encrypted according to a policy. Other aspects relate to deleting data from a secure container, such as via a selective wipe of data associated with a managed application. Further aspects relate to configuring and creating the secure containers, retrieving key information required to encrypt/decrypt the data stored in the secure containers, and publishing the managed applications, policy information and key information for download to a mobile device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a mobile device via an access gateway, policy information that defines a management framework for executing a managed application of the mobile device; and
as part of a process that configures the mobile device such that the managed application is able to be executed in accordance with the management framework:
configuring, based on at least one first setting of the policy information, a private secure container, which is to be private to the managed application, such that a first type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container;
configuring, based on at least one second setting of the policy information, a shared secure container, which is to be accessible by the managed application and at least one other managed application of the mobile device, such that a second type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the shared secure container;
determining that legacy data, which is associated with an application of the mobile device that was executed not in accordance with the management framework, is to be configured for the managed application;
responsive to determining that the legacy data is to be configured for the managed application, encrypting the legacy data, resulting in encrypted legacy data;
storing a first set of the encrypted legacy data in the private secure container; and
storing a second set of the encrypted legacy data in the shared secure container.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining, via the access gateway, key information that includes one or more keys for encrypting or decrypting data of the private secure container or the shared secure container.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first setting instructs that the private secure container is to be configured on the mobile device such that the first type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container; and
wherein the at least one second setting instructs that the shared secure container is to be configured on the mobile device such that the second type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
intercepting a read or write operation from the managed application while the managed application is executing on the mobile device, wherein the read or write operation comprises an application programming interface (API) call available via a file system of the mobile device, wherein the file system of the mobile device is different from both a file system of the private secure container and a file system of the shared secure container, and wherein the read or write operation indicates a type of data to be read or written;
determining, based on the policy information and the type of data to be read or written, whether to redirect the read or write operation to the shared secure container or the private secure container; and
based on the determining, redirecting the read or write operation to the private secure container or the shared secure container.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the private secure container and the shared secure container are each a logical interface into which data is read from and written to in an encrypted form.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the private secure container is accessible to only the managed application.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shared secure container is accessible to only the managed application and the at least one other managed application, and wherein the policy information is assigned to the managed application and the at least one other managed application.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory storing executable instructions configured to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive, via an access gateway, policy information that defines a management framework for executing a managed application of the apparatus; and
as part of a process that configures the apparatus such that the managed application is able to be executed in accordance with the management framework:
configure, based on at least one first setting of the policy information, a private secure container, which is to be private to the managed application, such that a first type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container;
configure, based on at least one second setting of the policy information, a shared secure container, which is to be accessible by the managed application and at least one other managed application of the apparatus, such that a second type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the shared secure container;
determine that legacy data, which is associated with an application of the apparatus that was executed not in accordance with the management framework, is to be configured for the managed application;
responsive to determining that the legacy data is to be configured for the managed application, encrypt the legacy data, resulting in encrypted legacy data;
store a first set of the encrypted legacy data in the private secure container; and
store a second set of the encrypted legacy data in the shared secure container.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
obtain, via the access gateway, key information that includes one or more keys for encrypting or decrypting data of the private secure container or the shared secure container.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the at least one first setting instructs that the private secure container is to be configured on the apparatus such that the first type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container; and
wherein the at least one second setting instructs that the shared secure container is to be configured on the apparatus such that the second type of read or write operation from the managed application is to be redirected to the private secure container.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
intercept a read or write operation from the managed application while the managed application is executing on the apparatus, wherein the read or write operation comprises an application programming interface (API) call available via a file system of the apparatus, wherein the file system of the apparatus is different from both a file system of the private secure container and a file system of the shared secure container, and wherein the read or write operation indicates a type of data to be read or written;
determine, based on the policy information and the type of data to be read or written, whether to redirect the read or write operation to the shared secure container or the private secure container; and
based on the determining, redirect the read or write operation to the private secure container or the shared secure container.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the private secure container and the shared secure container are each a logical interface into which data is read from and written to in an encrypted form.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the private secure container is accessible to only the managed application; and
wherein the shared secure container is accessible to only the managed applica

Assignees

• Citrix Systems Inc

Inventors

• Barton Gary
• Lang Zhongmin
• Desai Nitin
• Walker James Robert

Classifications

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L63/0428 Primary

  wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload · CPC title

• G06F2221/2143

  Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen · CPC title

• G06F21/88

  Detecting or preventing theft or loss · CPC title