Patents Assigned to Symantec
  • Patent number: 8631103
    Abstract: A solution for remotely administering dynamic computing environments is provided. A list of administrative actions and computing devices are displayed on a user interface. The user then can select an administrative action to be performed on any number of the computing devices in the list. Once selected, a signal is sent to the remote computing environment indicating the administrative action to be performed on the selected computing devices. The administrative action is then performed on the selected computing devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation
    Inventors: Saugata Guha, Carleton Miyamoto, Jagadish Bandhole
  • Patent number: 8631458
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for elastic (re)allocation of enterprise workloads on clouds identifies a set of requirements for a workload. The workload includes one or more application running on a set of virtual machines. The requirements are defined by a set of compliance standards. The method and apparatus compares the set of requirements with a set of controls installed for various virtual infrastructure elements in at least one cloud. The method and apparatus selects virtual infrastructure elements satisfying a minimum cost criterion for placement of the set of virtual machines for the workload. The virtual infrastructure elements can include one or more hosts, one or more network devices, and/or one or more storage devices. The method and apparatus deploy the set of virtual machines for the workload on the selected virtual infrastructure elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Deb Banerjee
  • Patent number: 8631498
    Abstract: Techniques for identifying potential malware domain names are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a system for identifying potential malware domain names. The system may comprise one or more processors communicatively coupled to a network. The one or more processors may be configured to receive a request for network data, where the request for network data may comprise a domain name. The one or more processors may also be configured to apply a lexical and linguistic analysis to the domain name. The one or more processors may also be configured to identify whether the domain name is a potential malware domain name based on the lexical and linguistic analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Andrew Hart, Jeffrey Scott Wilhelm, Sharada Sundaram
  • Patent number: 8630981
    Abstract: Techniques for differencing binary installation packages are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for performing differencing binary installation packages. The method may comprise populating at least one data structure using information from different builds of a binary installation package, comparing information in the at least one data structure, and generating a result of the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Gary Chirhart, James Edwards
  • Patent number: 8631423
    Abstract: Various embodiments of a system and method for enabling a first virtualization environment to use a virtual disk image file created by a second virtualization environment without requiring the virtual disk image file to first be converted are described. The virtual disk image file may remain in its original format, and an I/O conversion filter driver may receive I/O requests from the first virtualization environment in real time and dynamically translate them into modified I/O calls based on the original format of the virtual disk image file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Sujata Indalkar
  • Patent number: 8631133
    Abstract: A method and system of providing a virtual transport session is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a virtual transport session is provided by establishing a virtual transport session between an initiator module and a target module across a network, wherein the virtual transport session comprises a transport session. Thereafter, information is transferred between the initiator module and the target module using the virtual transport session. According to another embodiment, establishing a virtual transport session between an initiator module and a target module across a network comprises associating a globally unique identifier to an initiator module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation
    Inventors: Ramana Jonnala, Ronald S. Karr, Dhanesh Joshi
  • Patent number: 8631457
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring text-based communications to secure a computer is described. In one embodiment, the method for monitoring text-based communications to secure a computer includes defining at least one portion of the computer display that is associated with text-based communications and examining the at least one portion of the computer display to identify textual data within the text-based communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Adam P. Schepis, Matt Boucher, Keith Newstadt, Robert Walters
  • Patent number: 8627413
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and system for authorization management and resource attachment. The method includes receiving, within an electronic system, a notification of an emulated device operable to be provisioned and updating an authorization record of an authorization record datastore. The updating of the authorization record comprises updating routing information related to communication of the emulated device and a virtual device. The method further includes receiving a request for initial instantiation or reconnection of the emulated device with the virtual device and determining whether the emulated device and the virtual device are allowed to communicate based on the authorization record datastore. A response to the request for instantiation or reconnection can then be sent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Youngworth
  • Patent number: 8626904
    Abstract: Tasks executing on a computer can livelock. To detect a livelocked task, the amount of computing resources consumed by the task is sampled to determine whether the task is consuming an inordinate amount of resources. In addition, the task is examined to determine whether it is making tangible progress. This examination can include inspecting registers of a processor executing the task. If the task is livelocked, state data describing the livelock event is collected. The state data can include a memory dump describing the state of the livelocked task and data describing other tasks executing on the computer. A livelock report including the collected state data is generated and transmitted to a server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Anthony Olliff
  • Patent number: 8626675
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for user-specific tuning of classification heuristics may include: 1) identifying a trusted software component on the computing device that has been excluded from analysis by a classification heuristic, 2) applying the classification heuristic to the trusted software component, 3) determining that the classification heuristic incorrectly classified the trusted software component, and then 4) lowering a confidence score associated with the classification heuristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Sourabh Satish
  • Patent number: 8626714
    Abstract: A computing device categorizes data items as a corporate data items when a first criterion is satisfied and as personal data items when a second criterion is satisfied. The computing device provides identified corporate data items to a first backup system that stores the corporate data items to a corporate data store. The computing device further provides identified personal data items to a second backup system that stores the personal data items to a personal data store.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas E. Gibson, Keith Newstadt
  • Patent number: 8627407
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for preventing modification of network resources in the absence of a user's consent is disclosed. The method may comprise: 1) identifying an attempt to modify a network resource, 2) administering a human-verification test, and 3) determining, based on the outcome of the human-verification test, whether to prevent modification of the network resource. In addition, a computer-implemented method for preventing unauthorized communication with network resources may comprise: 1) identifying a communication attempt between a network resource and an untrusted resource, 2) determining whether communication between the network resource and the untrusted resource is authorized, and 3) determining, based on whether communication between the network resource and the untrusted resource is authorized, whether to allow communication between the network resource and the untrusted resource. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Sourabh Satish, Nishant Doshi
  • Patent number: 8626737
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for processing electronically stored information (ESI) for electronic discovery are described. In some examples, an electronic analysis of documents in the ESI indicated as being responsive to a search query of the ESI is performed. Results of the electronic analysis are stored in a database to provide a repository of case knowledge. Search parameters for at least one additional search query are generated automatically based on the case knowledge. The search parameters are provided as output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Sunil Sharad Panse
  • Patent number: 8627463
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for using reputation information to evaluate the trustworthiness of files obtained via torrent transactions may include (1) identifying a torrent file that includes metadata for facilitating a torrent transaction for obtaining a target file via a peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol, (2) identifying at least one entity involved in the torrent transaction, (3) obtaining reputation information associated with the entity involved in the torrent transaction, wherein the reputation information identifies a community's opinion on the trustworthiness of the entity, (4) determining, based at least in part on the reputation information associated with the entity involved in the torrent transaction, that the target file represents a potential security risk, and then (5) performing a security action on the target file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Adam Glick, Nicholas Graf, Spencer Smith
  • Patent number: 8627469
    Abstract: A method for using acquisitional contexts to prevent false-positive malware classifications. The method may include (1) receiving, from at least one client-side computing device within a community of users, contextual information associated with a file, (2) determining, based at least in part on the contextual information received from the client-side computing device, a reputation rating for the file, and (3) providing the reputation rating for the file to at least one additional client-side computing device within the community in order to prevent the additional client-side computing device from falsely classifying the file as untrustworthy due to acquiring an additional instance of the file via a context that is insufficient to determine that the additional instance of the file is trustworthy. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Chen, Jeffrey Wilhelm
  • Patent number: 8627476
    Abstract: Incoming network traffic is monitored, and content-based files in the monitored incoming network traffic originating from remote sources are identified. When a specific content-based file originating from a remote source is identified, security information concerning that file is gleaned. This security information comprises at least a security reputation of the remote source from which the file originates. An attempt to open the file is identified, and a security risk rating is determined based on the security information concerning the file. In response to the security risk rating exceeding a given threshold, behavior associated with the attempt to open the file is altered. This altering of behavior can comprise, for example, disabling a scripting engine for the instance of the content processing application attempting to open the file, or altering file system and/or operating system resource access privileges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Sourabh Satish, Patrick Gardner
  • Patent number: 8627125
    Abstract: Power management systems and methods are presented. In one embodiment, implementation of a method for context specific power management of a resource, comprises: defining a context within which a resource operates, wherein the context is defined by one or more parameters; tracking a usage history of the resource operating within the context to determine passive user feedback related to a plurality of timeout values; and determining a timeout value for a current operation of the resource within the context based on the usage history.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Anand Kashyap
  • Patent number: 8621606
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for identifying external functions called by an untrusted application may comprise loading an untrusted application into an emulated computing environment, executing a first computer-readable instruction of the untrusted application within the emulated computing environment, intercepting a request to access an external-function-specific region of memory, and identifying, by analyzing the request, an external function to be called by the first computer-readable instruction. The method may also comprise identifying an address associated with the external function and/or identifying a name associated with the external function. The name associated with the external function may be used to recreate an import table for the untrusted application. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventor: Peter Ferrie
  • Patent number: 8621260
    Abstract: Various systems and methods for implementing site-level sub-cluster dependencies are disclosed. One such method involves initiating failover of a first service group from a first cluster site to a second cluster site. The first service group includes one or more resources of an application. The method then identifies at least one dependent service group at the first cluster site. The dependent service group is either a parent or a child of the first service group. The method then involves initiating failover of the dependent service group from the first cluster site to the second cluster site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Alok Ashok Sontakke, Amit Haridas Rangari
  • Patent number: 8621632
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for locating malware may include identifying a malicious behavior in a computing system. The computer-implemented method may also include determining that the malicious behavior arises from a set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may further include identifying an executable object recently added to the set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may additionally include attributing the malicious behavior to the recently added executable object based on when the recently added executable object was added to the set of interrelated executable objects. The computer-implemented method may also include performing a security action on the recently added executable object. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Symantec Corporation
    Inventors: Spencer Smith, Adam Glick, Nicholas Graf