Patents by Inventor Paul J. Leach

Paul J. Leach has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7809938
    Abstract: A distributed security system is provided. The distributed security system uses a security policy that is written in a policy language that is transport and security protocol independent as well as independent of cryptographic technologies. This security policy can be expressed using the language to create different security components allowing for greater scalability and flexibility. By abstracting underlying protocols and technologies, multiple environments and platforms can be supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Giovanni M. Della-Libera, Christopher G. Kaler, Scott A. Konersmann, Butler W. Lampson, Paul J. Leach, Bradford H. Lovering, Steven E. Lucco, Stephen J. Millet, Richard F. Rashid, John P. Shewchuk
  • Publication number: 20100251338
    Abstract: A client system and a server system use a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) authentication mode preference header to negotiate an HTTP authentication mode. The client system sends an HTTP request to the server system. In response to the HTTP request, the server system sends an HTTP response to the client system. The HTTP response includes an HTTP authentication mode preference header. The HTTP authentication mode preference header indicates whether a preferred HTTP authentication mode is connection-based HTTP authentication or request-based HTTP authentication. In subsequent HTTP requests to the server system, the client system uses the HTTP authentication mode indicated by the HTTP authentication mode preference header.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Rick James, Jonathan Silvera, Matthew Cox, Paul J. Leach, Anil K. Ruia, Anish V. Desai
  • Publication number: 20100242102
    Abstract: Use of a biometric identification device in a client computer system to subsequently access an authentication system includes receiving biometric sample data which is digitally signed and combining the data with a user ID and PIN. This package of data is then securely transmitted to a biometric matching server to validate the user and the biometric sample. Once validated, the biometric matching server return the data package plus a temporary certificate and a public/private key pair to the client computer. The client computer may then use this information to access an authentication system to subsequently gain access to a secure resource.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David B. Cross, Paul J. Leach, Klaus U. Schutz, Robert D. Young, Nathan C. Sherman
  • Patent number: 7802294
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described that control attempts made by an application to access data. In one embodiment, the application is associated with a security token that includes an application ID. In operation, the system receives a request, initiated by the application, for access to the data. The system is configured to evaluate the request for access based in part on comparison of the security token and a listing of approved application IDs associated with the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric C. Perlin, Klaus U. Schutz, Paul J. Leach, Peter T. Brundrett, Thomas C. Jones
  • Publication number: 20100228982
    Abstract: Modern network communications often require a client application requesting data to authenticate itself to an application providing the data. Such authentication requests can be redundant, especially in the case of stateless network protocols. When a full authentication is performed, a conversation identifier and one or more encryption keys can be agreed upon. Subsequent authentication requests can be answered with a fast reconnect token comprising the conversation identifier and a cryptographically signed version of it using the one or more encryption keys. Should additional security be desirable, a sequence number can be established and incremented in a pre-determined or a random manner to enable detection of replayed fast reconnect tokens. If the recipient can verify the fast reconnect token, the provider can be considered to have been authenticated based on the prior authentication. If an aspect of the fast re-authentication should fail, recourse can be had to the original full authentication process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Publication date: September 9, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Liqiang Zhu, Paul J. Leach, Kevin Thomas Damour, David McPherson, Tanmoy Dutta
  • Patent number: 7779265
    Abstract: An item inheritance system and method are provided. The item inheritance system can be employed to propagate access control information (e.g., an access control list) to one or more item(s), thus facilitating security of item(s). At least one of the item(s) is a compound item. The item inheritance system includes an input component that receives information associated with one or more items. The items can include container(s), object(s) and/or compound item(s). The system can be triggered by a change in security policy to the item(s), for example, adding and/or deleting a user's access to the item(s). Additionally, moving and/or copying a collection of items can further trigger the system. The system further includes a propagation component that propagates access control information to the item(s). For example, the propagation component can enforce the ACL propagation policies when a change to the security descriptor takes place at the root of a hierarchy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kendarnath A. Dubhashi, Balan Sethu Raman, Paul J. Leach, Prasanna V. Krishnan
  • Patent number: 7757275
    Abstract: A domain controller (DC) side plugin supports one time passwords natively in Kerberos, Part of the key material is static and the other part is dynamic, thereby leveraging properties unique to each to securely support one time passwords in an operating system. The user is permitted to type in the one time passcode into a logon user interface. Rather than calling the SAM APIs to get the static passwords, vendors may register callbacks on the DC to plugin their algorithm. These callback functions will return the dynamically calculated passcodes for the user at a specific point in time. This passcode will then be treated as a normal password by the DC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher J. Crall, Karthik Jaganathan, Liqiang Zhu, Paul J. Leach
  • Patent number: 7757281
    Abstract: Remote administrative privileges in a distributed system are disabled by default. To administer a remote system, express action is taken to elevate a user status to obtain remote administrative privileges. When local and remote systems communicate, information pertaining to the status of the logged on user is included in the communications. If the user wishes to legitimately administer a remote system, the user provides an explicit request. The request is processed. If the user is configured as an administrator of the remote system and the request contains an indication that the user's administrative status has been elevated, an authorization token is generated. The authorization token is utilized by the remote system to allow the user to administer the remote system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Scott A. Field, Liqiang Zhu, Peter T. Brundrett, Paul J. Leach
  • Patent number: 7752442
    Abstract: A distributed security system is provided. The distributed security system uses a security policy that is written in a policy language that is transport and security protocol independent as well as independent of cryptographic technologies. This security policy can be expressed using the language to create different security components allowing for greater scalability and flexibility. By abstracting underlying protocols and technologies, multiple environments and platforms can be supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Giovanni M. Della-Libera, Christopher G. Kaler, Scott A. Konersmann, Butler W. Lampson, Paul J. Leach, Bradford H. Lovering, Steven E. Luocco, Stephen J. Millet, Richard F. Rashid, John P. Shewchuk
  • Patent number: 7752431
    Abstract: A distributed security system is provided. The distributed security system uses a security policy that is written in a policy language that is transport and security protocol independent as well as independent of cryptographic technologies. This security policy can be expressed using the language to create different security components allowing for greater scalability and flexibility. By abstracting underlying protocols and technologies, multiple environments and platforms can be supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Giovanni M. Della-Libera, Christopher G. Kaler, Scott A. Konersmann, Butler W. Lampson, Paul J. Leach, Bradford H. Lovering, Steven E. Lucco, Stephen J. Millet, Richard F. Rashid, John P. Shewchuk
  • Publication number: 20100100953
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains generally to client authentication. One aspect of the disclosure relates to a first server for presenting evidence to a Domain Controller (DC) of a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server to obtain a delegable credential, wherein the credential can be used to request a second authentication context from that client to a second server. Another aspect relates to the first server providing a pass-thru with evidence to a DC. The evidence relates to a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server that it obtained a delegable credential. The pass-thru is used in combination with the credential to request a second authentication context from the client to a second server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2009
    Publication date: April 22, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David R. Mowers, John Banes, Daniel R. Simon, Paul J. Leach
  • Patent number: 7664724
    Abstract: A schema-based service for Internet access to per-user services data, wherein access to data is based on each user's identity. The service includes a schema that defines rules and a structure for each user's data, and also includes methods that provide access to the data in a defined way. The services schema thus corresponds to a logical document containing the data for each user. The user manipulates (e.g., reads or writes) data in the logical document by data access requests through defined methods. In one implementation, the services schemas are arranged as XML documents, and the services provide methods that control access to the data based on the requesting user's identification, defined role and scope for that role. In this way, data can be accessed by its owner, and shared to an extent determined by the owner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Mark H. Lucovsky, Shaun Douglas Pierce, Ramu Movva, Jagadeesh Kalki, David Benjamin Auerbach, Peter Sewall Ford, Yun-Qi Yuan, Yi-Wen Guu, Samuel John George, William Raymond Hoffman, Jay Christopher Jacobs, Paul Andrew Steckler, Walter C. Hsueh, Kendall D. Keil, Burra Gopal, Steven D. White, Paul J. Leach, Richard B. Ward, Philip Michael Smoot, Lijiang Fang, Michael B. Taylor, Suresh Kannan, Winnie C. Wu
  • Patent number: 7644275
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains generally to client authentication. One aspect of the disclosure relates to a first server for presenting evidence to a Domain Controller (DC) of a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server to obtain a delegable credential, wherein the credential can be used to request a second authentication context from that client to a second server. Another aspect relates to the first server providing a pass-thru with evidence to a DC. The evidence relates to a first authentication context being submitted from a client to the first server that it obtained a delegable credential. The pass-thru is used in combination with the credential to request a second authentication context from the client to a second server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David R. Mowers, John Banes, Daniel R. Simon, Paul J. Leach
  • Publication number: 20090328134
    Abstract: The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for licensing protected content to application sets. Embodiments of the invention permit a local machine to increase its participation in authorizing access to protected content. For example, an operating system within an appropriate computing environment is permitted to determine if an application is authorized to access protected content. Thus, the application is relieved from having to store a publishing license. Further, authorization decisions are partially distributed, easing the resource burden on a protection server. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention can facilitate more robust and efficient authorization decisions when access to protected content is requested.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth D. Ray, Pankaj M. Kamat, Charles W. Kaufman, Paul J. Leach, William R. Tipton, Andrew Herron, Krassimir E. Karamifilov, Duncan G. Bryce, Jonathan D. Schwartz, Matthew C. Setzer, John McDowell
  • Patent number: 7617522
    Abstract: An enterprise network architecture has a trust link established between two autonomous network systems that enables transitive resource access between network domains of the two network systems. The trust link is defined by data structures maintained by each of the respective network systems. The first network system maintains namespaces that correspond to the second network system and a domain controller in the first network system, or a first network system administrator, indicates whether to trust individual namespaces. An account managed by a domain in the second network system can request authentication via a domain controller in the first network system. The first network system determines from the trust link to communicate the authentication request to the second network system. The first network system also determines from the trust link where to communicate authorization requests when administrators manage group memberships and access control lists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Donald E. Schmidt, Clifford P. Van Dyke, Paul J. Leach, Praerit Garg, Murli D. Satagopan
  • Patent number: 7602756
    Abstract: A device control model provides an integrated set of addressing, naming, discovery and description processes that enables automatic, dynamic and ad-hoc self-setup by devices to interoperate with other devices on a network. This permits a computing device when introduced into a network to automatically configure so as to connect and interact with other computing devices available on the network, without a user installation experience and without downloading driver software or persisting a configuration setup for connecting and interacting with such other computing devices. Upon completing interaction with such other devices, the computing device automatically releases the setup for such other devices so as to avoid persistent device configurations that might create a configuration maintenance and management burden.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ye Gu, Peter S. Ford, Holly Knight, Yaron Y. Goland, Paul J. Leach
  • Publication number: 20090241193
    Abstract: Improved intrusion detection and/or tracking methods and systems are provided for use across various computing devices and networks. Certain methods, for example, form a substantially unique audit identifier during each authentication/logon process. One method includes identifying one or more substantially unique parameters that are associated with the authentication/logon process and encrypting them to form at least one audit identifier that can then be generated and logged by each device involved in the authentication/logon process. The resulting audit log file can then be audited along with similar audit log files from other devices to track a user across multiple platforms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2009
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Bhalchandra S. Pandit, Praerit Garg, Richard B. Ward, Paul J. Leach, Scott A. Field, Robert P. Reichel, John E. Brezak
  • Publication number: 20090217029
    Abstract: An exemplary group ticket for a Kerberos protocol includes a service ticket encrypted with a dynamic group key and a plurality of enveloped pairs where each pair includes a name associated with a member of a group and an encrypted the dynamic group key for decryption by a key possessed by the member of the group where decryption of an encrypted dynamic group key allows for decryption of the service ticket. Other exemplary methods, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2008
    Publication date: August 27, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cristian Ilac, Paul J. Leach, Tarek B. Kamel, Liqiang Zhu
  • Patent number: 7571438
    Abstract: A resource management mechanism is provided to ensure that real-time application programs running on a single machine or set of machines exhibit predictable behavior. The resource management mechanism employs the abstraction of an activity which serves as the basis for granting resource reservations and for accounting. An activity submits a request for resources in specified amounts to a resource planner. The activity is resource self-aware so that it is aware of its resource requirements. The activity may query resource providers to obtain resource requirements for particular operations. The resource planner determines whether the activity should be granted the requested reservation by employing an internal policy. Policy is separated by mechanism so that the resource planner may implement any of a number of policies. The resource planner may choose to grant the reservation to an activity or deny the request by an activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael B. Jones, Paul J. Leach, Richard P. Draves, Jr., Joseph S. Barrera, III
  • Publication number: 20090178129
    Abstract: Embodiments for providing differentiated access based on authentication input attributes are disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment, a method includes receiving an authentication input at an authentication authority using an authentication protocol. The authentication input being associated with a client. The method also includes providing one or more representations for the authentication input, wherein each of the representations represents an attribute of the authentication input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: David B. Cross, Mark F. Novak, Oded Ye Shekel, Paul J. Leach, Andreas Luther, Thomas C. Jones