Advertisement identifier monitoring method and system based on multi-level privacy protection mechanism

Abstract

The invention belongs to but not limited to the technical field of protection, and particularly relates to an advertisement identifier monitoring method and system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism, which realize privacy protection of advertisement identifiers through direct interaction with users. Finer-grained privacy protection is provided for the user by controlling user privacy setting, authority control and system interaction; the behavior of the advertisement SDK is monitored and intercepted in real time, and it is ensured that an application cannot acquire or transmit an advertisement identifier in an unauthorized mode; the security mechanism of the system level is used for monitoring and intervening the operating system level; the acquisition, transmission and use processes of the advertisement identifier are comprehensively mastered through a multi-level monitoring mechanism; a mechanism based on dynamic authority control is introduced; the mechanism is mainly applied to authority verification of a system service layer, and ensures that only an application authorized by a user can access identifier data in the access process of the identifier.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to, but is not limited to, the technical field of protection, and particularly relates to an advertising identifier monitoring method and system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of the mobile Internet, personalized advertising recommendation has become the core technology of advertising delivery. Advertising identifiers (such as GAID, OAID) are widely used to track user behavior to achieve precise advertisement pushing. However, there are still many problems in the privacy protection and management of advertising identifiers in existing technologies. Although the Android system provides a function to disable advertising tracking, some applications still continue to track users through hardware information (such as device serial number, MAC address) or generated UUIDs (Universally Unique Identifiers), bypassing the user's privacy settings. In addition, there are vulnerabilities in the storage and management of advertising identifiers in devices, and some devices fail to strictly control the access rights to identifier data, resulting in unauthorized applications being able to obtain this information, thus infringing on user privacy. At the same time, the lack of permission control in the Binder service in the Android system also enables malicious applications to bypass the system permission check and directly access advertising identifiers. These problems reveal the deficiencies of existing technologies in privacy protection, permission management, and data security, and it is urgent to strengthen the management and protection measures for advertising identifiers.

[0003] In view of the above analysis, the technical problems urgently needed to be solved in the existing technology are:

[0004] (1) There are vulnerabilities in the storage and management of advertising identifiers in devices, and some devices fail to strictly control the access rights to identifier data, resulting in unauthorized applications being able to obtain this information, thus infringing on user privacy.

[0005] (2) The lack of permission control in the Binder service in the Android system also enables malicious applications to bypass the system permission check and directly access advertising identifiers. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the present invention provides an advertising identifier monitoring method and system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism.

[0007] The present invention is implemented as follows. An advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism includes:

[0008] S1. User-level analysis: The user level is one of the core levels of the technical solution of the present invention. The main purpose is to achieve privacy protection of advertising identifiers by directly interacting with users. By controlling user privacy settings, permission control, and system interaction, the present invention provides users with more fine-grained privacy protection.

[0009] S2. Application-level analysis: At the application level, the present invention monitors and intercepts the behavior of the advertising SDK in real time to ensure that the application cannot obtain or transmit advertising identifiers in an unauthorized manner.

[0010] S3. System-level analysis: The system level is the basis of the technical solution of the present invention, covering the storage, access control, and permission management of advertising identifiers within the operating system. The security mechanism at the system level further improves the privacy protection ability of advertising identifiers through monitoring and intervention at the operating system level.

[0011] S4. Multi-level data flow monitoring of advertising identifiers: Through a multi-level monitoring mechanism, comprehensively master the process of obtaining, transmitting, and using advertising identifiers.

[0012] S5. Dynamic permission control mechanism: In order to further enhance the privacy protection of advertising identifiers, the present invention introduces a mechanism based on dynamic permission control. This mechanism is mainly applied to the permission verification at the system service layer to ensure that only applications authorized by users can access identifier data during the process of accessing and storing identifiers.

[0013] S6. Monitoring the alternative use of non-official identifiers: In addition to traditional advertising identifiers (GAID and OAID), the present invention also pays special attention to the use of non-official identifiers, especially when users disable advertising tracking, whether the advertising SDK can still track users through other means (such as hardware information, MAC address, UUID, etc.).

[0014] Furthermore, the user-level analysis specifically includes:

[0015] Monitoring and management of privacy settings: The present invention deploys a privacy setting monitoring module at the user level to detect in real time the user's selection of advertising tracking in the device settings. When the user selects to disable advertising tracking (for example, turn off GAID or OAID), the system will automatically update the permission policy through the dynamic permission control module to prevent unauthorized applications from continuing to access advertising identifiers. This ensures that the user's privacy selection can take effect immediately, thereby reducing the risk of privacy leakage of the advertising SDK.

[0016] Data Flow Visualization and Feedback Mechanism: To enhance users' sense of control over privacy protection, the present invention designs a data flow visualization function. Through the user interface, users can view in real time which applications are accessing the advertising identifier and the specific data being accessed. The system also provides a feedback mechanism that allows users to choose whether to allow certain applications to access the identifier, increasing user participation.

[0017] Custom Identifier Generation: At the user level, the present invention can also provide a custom identifier generation function. When the user disables the official advertising identifier, the system dynamically generates a unique and non-traceable identifier to ensure that the advertising SDK can still make recommendations based on user behavior while avoiding the use of easily traceable alternative identifiers such as hardware information and MAC addresses.

[0018] Furthermore, the application-level analysis specifically includes:

[0019] Advertising SDK Behavior Monitoring: The present invention uses a data flow monitoring tool at the application layer to intercept the behavior of the advertising SDK in real time within the application, focusing on whether the advertising SDK obtains the advertising identifier through API calls. Specifically, the system analyzes the identifier fields in each network request to verify whether the advertising SDK uses a legitimate identifier. If an unauthorized identifier request is detected, the system will immediately block the request and record the relevant logs.

[0020] Alternative Identifier Detection and Interception: When the user disables the advertising identifier, the advertising SDK may continue to track user behavior through alternative identifiers (such as device hardware information, dynamically generated UUIDs, etc.). For this reason, the present invention designs a detection and interception mechanism for alternative identifiers. At the application layer, the system uses a dynamic injection tool (such as Frida) to monitor the identifier generation process in real time, intercept and analyze the identifier generation logic. If it is detected that the alternative identifier generated by the advertising SDK is used for cross-application or cross-device tracking, the system will automatically block its upload or use.

[0021] API Access Permission Control: At the application layer, it also includes the management of the advertising SDK's access permissions. Through a dynamic permission control mechanism, the system dynamically adjusts the advertising SDK's access permissions according to the user's privacy settings, prohibiting unauthorized applications from obtaining the advertising identifier through the API. This effectively prevents the advertising SDK from obtaining sensitive information without the user's consent.

[0022] Furthermore, the system-level analysis specifically includes:

[0023] Permission Control at the System Service Layer: At the system service layer, the storage and management of advertising identifiers are subject to strict permission control. The system dynamically verifies the access and storage of advertising identifiers according to the preset privacy policy. When an illegal access request is detected, the system will reject the request through the permission verification mechanism to ensure that advertising identifiers cannot be obtained by malicious applications.

[0024] Privacy Data Storage and Isolation: The system level also involves the storage and isolation of privacy data. To prevent identifiers from being randomly accessed by unrelated applications on the device, the system stores identifier data in an encrypted area and protects it through strict file access permission management. Any application that fails to pass the permission verification cannot read or modify the identifier data, thereby reducing the risk of data leakage.

[0025] Log Monitoring and Auditing at the Operating System Layer: The present invention introduces a log monitoring and auditing mechanism at the operating system layer. The system records all operation logs related to the storage, transmission, and access of advertising identifiers to ensure that the source of responsibility can be traced in the event of a privacy leakage incident. At the same time, these logs can be used for subsequent security audits and problem troubleshooting.

[0026] Furthermore, the multi-level data flow monitoring of advertising identifiers specifically includes:

[0027] Application Layer Monitoring: The advertising SDK obtains the identifier through the API and uploads it to the advertising network. For this purpose, the present invention deploys a data flow monitoring tool to intercept and parse network packets, extract advertising identifiers and other possible alternative identifiers (such as device hardware information, dynamically generated UUIDs, etc.). When the user disables the advertising tracking function, the system will monitor whether the advertising SDK can still obtain identifiers or generate new identifiers through other means. By dynamically monitoring the behavior of the SDK, the present invention can identify whether there is a situation of tracking user behavior through hardware information or other data.

[0028] Application Framework Layer Monitoring: At this layer, the management of advertising identifiers involves the transparency and permission control of API calls. The present invention monitors the calls of APIs related to advertising identifiers and real-time detects whether there are API abuses or permission control vulnerabilities. Through the analysis of the permission settings and API access logs at the application framework layer, the present invention can identify whether there are unauthorized applications accessing identifiers through the framework layer. System Service Layer Monitoring: As the core layer for the storage and permission control of advertising identifiers, the system service layer directly affects the security of identifiers. The present invention monitors system properties (such as the getprop command), the settings database (Settings Provider), and the Binder service to detect whether there are permission configuration vulnerabilities and ensure that unauthorized applications cannot obtain or tamper with advertising identifiers through the system service layer.

[0029] Furthermore, the dynamic permission control mechanism specifically includes:

[0030] Permission verification mechanism: The system service layer controls the access to advertising identifiers through permission verification. By monitoring the permission configurations of the Binder service, the settings database, and system properties in real time, the present invention can dynamically adjust the permission verification policy. When an unauthorized access request is detected, the system will reject the request to ensure that advertising identifiers are not stolen or misused by malicious applications.

[0031] Dynamic permission policy adjustment: In addition to traditional permission control, the present invention also introduces a dynamic adjustment policy. For example, when the user chooses to disable ad tracking, the system will update the permission configuration in real time to prohibit all unauthorized applications from accessing the identifier. In addition, the system will automatically update the permission policy by monitoring the user privacy settings in real time to prevent the system configuration from being leaked or tampered with.

[0032] Furthermore, the monitoring of the alternative use of non-official identifiers specifically includes:

[0033] Monitoring of dynamic identifier generation: The present invention monitors the identifiers generated by the advertising SDK at runtime through a dynamic analysis method. By injecting tools (such as Frida) into the identifier generation function of the SDK, the generation process of the identifiers is recorded, and whether the generated identifiers are unique and stable is analyzed, so as to determine whether they can replace official identifiers for ad delivery.

[0034] Data flow interception and alternative identifier detection: Through data flow monitoring tools, the present invention can intercept and parse the data packets uploaded by the SDK, extract the identifier fields and additional user information, and analyze whether they contain alternative identifiers. During the testing process, when the official advertising identifier is disabled in the device privacy settings, whether the advertising SDK uses other identifiers (such as device serial number, MAC address, etc.) for data tracking can be determined by comparing the identifier fields.

[0035] Another object of the present invention is to provide an advertising identifier monitoring system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism for implementing the advertising identifier monitoring method based on the multi-level privacy protection mechanism, including:

[0036] Data flow monitoring module: This module is responsible for intercepting, parsing, and analyzing the network data flow of the advertising SDK in real time, and extracting identifier information. This module can identify whether the advertising SDK uses non-official identifiers for user tracking and record relevant data.

[0037] Dynamic Permission Control Module: This module is responsible for real-time monitoring and adjustment of the permission configuration in the system service layer to ensure that only applications authorized by users can access the advertising identifier. When the permission settings change, this module will update the permission policy in a timely manner to prevent unauthorized access.

[0038] Alternative Identifier Detection Module: This module monitors and analyzes whether the advertising SDK obtains user identifiers through other means to push advertisements instead of the official identifier. This module can detect the use of alternative identifiers through a combination of data packet analysis, dynamic injection tools, and static analysis.

[0039] Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer device, which includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor executes the steps of the advertising identifier monitoring method based on the multi-level privacy protection mechanism.

[0040] Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor executes the steps of the advertising identifier monitoring method based on the multi-level privacy protection mechanism.

[0041] Another object of the present invention is to provide an information data processing terminal, which includes the advertising identifier monitoring system based on the multi-level privacy protection mechanism.

[0042] Combined with the above technical solutions and the technical problems solved, the advantages and positive effects of the technical solutions to be protected by the present invention are as follows:

[0043] First, the main differences and innovations between the present invention and the prior art solutions are reflected in the following aspects:

[0044] Multi-level Privacy Protection Strategy: Existing technologies usually focus on single-level privacy protection. For example, they only restrict the storage and access of advertising identifiers at the operating system level, or only monitor SDKs at the application level. These solutions cannot effectively address complex privacy leakage problems in actual applications. Especially when advertising SDKs bypass privacy settings through different means (such as device hardware information, UUID, etc.), existing technologies often struggle to provide sufficient protection. The innovation of this invention lies in proposing a multi-level privacy protection strategy, including comprehensive protection mechanisms at the user level, application level, and system level. At the user level, the privacy protection strategy is adjusted in real time through privacy setting monitoring and user behavior feedback; at the application level, dynamic permission control and SDK behavior monitoring are used to ensure that advertising SDKs cannot obtain advertising identifiers without authorization; at the system level, means such as strengthening permission management, data isolation, and log auditing are used to prevent the abuse of privacy data. This multi-level and all-round privacy protection system significantly improves the security and effectiveness of privacy protection.

[0045] Dynamic Permission Control Mechanism: The permission control solutions of existing technologies are usually static, that is, access to advertising identifiers is disabled or allowed in device settings, but this control method cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the actual behavior of users during application operation. For example, a user may turn off the access permission to advertising identifiers at a certain moment, but when the advertising SDK uses alternative identifiers for tracking, existing technologies cannot detect and prevent this behavior in a timely manner. The dynamic permission control mechanism of this invention solves this problem. Through real-time data flow monitoring at the system level and synchronization with user privacy settings, the system can dynamically adjust the access permissions of advertising SDKs, whether for official identifiers or alternative identifiers. Through this mechanism, this invention can effectively prevent advertising SDKs from bypassing static permission control and ensure that user privacy is protected continuously and in real time.

[0046] Monitoring and Interception of Alternative Identifiers: Current technical solutions mainly focus on protecting the privacy of official identifiers (such as GAID, OAID), but often ignore the behavior of advertising SDKs tracking users through alternative identifiers such as device hardware information, MAC addresses, and dynamically generated UUIDs. The abuse of these identifiers not only leads to user privacy leakage but may also bypass existing privacy protection measures. One of the key innovations of this invention lies in the monitoring and interception of alternative identifiers. This invention uses dynamic injection tools and data flow monitoring tools at the application layer and system layer to perform real-time analysis and interception of alternative identifiers generated and used by advertising SDKs. No matter what alternative identifiers are used by the advertising SDK, this invention can detect and prevent their upload or use before they access data, preventing unauthorized privacy leakage.

[0047] Comprehensive Monitoring of Advertising SDK Behavior: Existing technical solutions only rely on static permission management or limited behavior interception, and cannot comprehensively and continuously monitor all behaviors of the advertising SDK in the application. This results in some applications still being able to obtain sensitive information through other means (such as alternative identifiers, cached data, or system API calls) even if the advertising identifier is disabled in the privacy settings, thus bypassing privacy protection. Through the comprehensive monitoring of the advertising SDK behavior, the present invention intercepts every data request and API call of the SDK in real time at the application layer and the system layer. Through the data flow monitoring module, the system can identify every identifier request of the SDK, capture any unofficial identifier used by the advertising SDK, and determine whether there is a possibility of data abuse through behavioral logic analysis. This comprehensive behavior monitoring mechanism can effectively prevent the advertising SDK from infringing on user privacy through hidden means.

[0048] Real-time Feedback and Visualization of User Privacy Settings: Currently, existing technical solutions mostly provide privacy protection options through the system settings interface, but these options are usually relatively simple and lack real-time feedback and visualization functions, resulting in users being unable to comprehensively understand and control which applications are accessing their advertising identifiers, nor can they clearly judge which identifiers are being misused. The present invention designs a real-time feedback and visualization function for privacy settings at the user level. Users can view through the interface at what time and in what way each application accesses the advertising identifier, and the system will provide visual feedback on the relevant permission access records and identifier usage, enhancing the user's sense of control over privacy protection. This function not only enhances the user's privacy awareness but also provides the user with more intuitive privacy protection options.

[0049] Improvements and Advantages over Existing Technical Solutions: By comparing with existing technical solutions, the present invention has significant improvements and advantages in the following aspects:

[0050] (1) Omnidirectional Privacy Protection: Existing technologies often only focus on protecting at the operating system level or for a specific identifier, while the present invention achieves the comprehensiveness of privacy protection through the comprehensive protection of the user layer, application layer, and system layer, effectively avoiding the risk of identifier leakage.

[0051] (2) Real-time Dynamic Permission Control: The permission control of existing technologies is usually static, while the present invention can adjust the system's privacy protection strategy in real time through a dynamic permission control mechanism to ensure that identifier access in different situations conforms to the user's privacy preferences.

[0052] (3) Interception Ability for Alternative Identifiers: The present invention can effectively detect and prevent the advertising SDK from using alternative identifiers such as device hardware information and UUID for user tracking, filling the gap in the protection of alternative identifiers in existing technologies.

[0053] (4) Comprehensive SDK Behavior Monitoring: Existing technologies often only detect the simple behaviors of advertising SDKs. However, through comprehensive behavior monitoring and data flow analysis, the present invention can capture all data requests of advertising SDKs in real time, preventing them from collecting and misusing data through covert means. Through the above innovations, the present invention realizes multi-level protection of advertising identifiers, provides stronger privacy protection, and enhances the security and transparency of personalized advertising recommendations.

[0054] Second, the present invention first proposes a comprehensive collaborative privacy protection system that spans the user layer, application layer, and system layer. By organically integrating multi-level mechanisms such as user privacy setting management, advertising SDK behavior monitoring, and system service layer permission control, it realizes all-round and three-dimensional privacy protection. This system can effectively prevent the infringement of user privacy information in multiple dimensions, significantly improve the integrity and reliability of user privacy protection, thereby reducing the economic losses and trust crises caused by privacy leakage to users, and bringing long-term stable market recognition and economic benefits to enterprises.

[0055] The present invention strengthens the verification and management capabilities of system service layer permissions through a dynamic permission control mechanism that monitors user privacy settings in real time and synchronizes permission policies dynamically, effectively solving the technical problem that traditional static permission mechanisms are easily bypassed. This dynamic permission adjustment technology can respond flexibly when user preferences change. Currently, it has not been widely applied at home and abroad, has great market value, can significantly enhance the technical competitiveness and differentiation advantages of enterprises, and form unique market competition advantages.

[0056] Aiming at the problem that existing technologies cannot effectively monitor the alternative identifiers generated by advertising SDKs, the present invention innovatively adopts dynamic injection technology, combined with data flow interception and field comparison, to achieve precise analysis, detection, and interception of the generation logic of alternative identifiers. This technology has break through the problem of preventing the abuse of alternative identifiers that has not been solved at home and abroad, significantly enhancing the security of the system and the effect of user privacy protection, and having obvious technological leading advantages and market competitiveness.

[0057] The present invention introduces a full-link and full-life-cycle advertising SDK behavior monitoring method in the field of privacy protection. Through data flow parsing at the application layer, API call monitoring at the framework layer, and permission auditing at the system service layer, it realizes precise monitoring and management of the whole process from identifier generation to use. There is no similar research report on this full-link and full-life-cycle privacy protection technology at home and abroad, filling the technical gap in the field of privacy management, significantly enhancing the transparency and initiative of user privacy control, and having important innovative significance and market competition advantages. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0058] Figure 1It is a flowchart of an advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0059] Figure 2 It is an architecture diagram of an advertising identifier monitoring system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0060] Figure 3 As shown, 95% of the applications follow the compliant identifier usage specifications, while 5% of the applications have varying degrees of privacy violations. Among them, 12 applications build user profiles by obtaining non-resettable hardware identifiers. Detailed implementation manners

[0061] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0062] Aiming at the problems of insufficient privacy protection of advertising identifiers, permission management loopholes and cross-application data tracking in the prior art, the present invention proposes an advertising identifier privacy protection method based on multi-level data flow monitoring and dynamic analysis. By comprehensively monitoring and controlling the acquisition, use and storage processes of advertising identifiers at different levels of the Android system architecture (including the application layer, application framework layer, system service layer, etc.), the present invention can effectively identify and prevent the abuse of advertising identifiers. Specifically, the present invention designs a comprehensive data flow monitoring tool that can intercept and analyze the network data flow of the advertising SDK in real time to identify whether there is an alternative use of non-official identifiers (such as device hardware information, dynamically generated UUIDs, etc.). In addition, the present invention also introduces a dynamic permission control mechanism to enhance the access protection of advertising identifiers by optimizing the permission configuration of the system service layer and avoiding unauthorized access. Through this multi-level and multi-dimensional privacy protection solution, the present invention improves the user privacy control ability while optimizing the management and use processes of advertising identifiers, significantly reducing the risk of advertising tracking to user privacy and enhancing the overall security and transparency of the system.

[0063] The technical solution of the present invention is based on multi-level data flow monitoring, dynamic analysis and permission control mechanisms, aiming to improve the privacy protection ability of advertising identifiers in the Android system. Specifically, the present invention comprehensively monitors the acquisition, storage and use of advertising identifiers (GAID and OAID) at different levels such as the application layer, application framework layer and system service layer, and combines a dynamic permission control mechanism to prevent unauthorized third-party applications from obtaining and misusing identifier data. The technical solution of the present invention will be elaborated in detail below, and the working principles and operation processes of each link will be described in conjunction with the corresponding diagrams.

[0064] User-level analysis: The user level is one of the core levels of the technical solution of the present invention. The main purpose is to achieve the privacy protection of advertising identifiers by directly interacting with users. By controlling user privacy settings, permission control, and system interaction, the present invention provides users with more fine-grained privacy protection. The specific implementation methods are as follows:

[0065] Privacy setting monitoring and management: The present invention deploys a privacy setting monitoring module at the user level to detect in real time the user's selection of advertising tracking in device settings. When the user selects to disable advertising tracking (such as turning off GAID or OAID), the system will automatically update the permission policy through the dynamic permission control module to prevent unauthorized applications from continuing to access advertising identifiers. This ensures that the user's privacy selection can take effect immediately, thereby reducing the privacy leakage risk of advertising SDKs.

[0066] Data flow visualization and feedback mechanism: To enhance the user's sense of control over privacy protection, the present invention designs a data flow visualization function. Through the user interface, users can view in real time which applications are accessing advertising identifiers and the specific data being accessed. The system also provides a feedback mechanism that allows users to choose whether to allow certain applications to access the identifiers, increasing user participation.

[0067] Custom identifier generation: At the user level, the present invention can also provide a custom identifier generation function. When the user disables the official advertising identifier, the system will dynamically generate a unique and non-traceable identifier to ensure that the advertising SDK can still make recommendations based on user behavior, while avoiding the use of easily traceable alternative identifiers such as hardware information and MAC addresses.

[0068] Application-level analysis: At the application level, the present invention ensures that applications cannot obtain or transmit advertising identifiers in an unauthorized manner by monitoring and intercepting the behavior of advertising SDKs in real time. The main technical implementation methods are as follows:

[0069] Advertising SDK behavior monitoring: The present invention uses a data flow monitoring tool at the application layer to intercept in real time the behavior of advertising SDKs in applications, focusing on whether the advertising SDK obtains advertising identifiers through API calls. Specifically, the system will analyze the identifier fields in each network request to verify whether the advertising SDK uses legal identifiers. If an unauthorized identifier request is detected, the system will immediately block the request and record relevant logs.

[0070] Alternative Identifier Detection and Interception: When users disable advertising identifiers, the advertising SDK may continue to track user behavior through alternative identifiers (such as device hardware information, dynamically generated UUIDs, etc.). Therefore, this invention designs a detection and interception mechanism for alternative identifiers. At the application layer, the system uses a dynamic injection tool (such as Frida) to monitor the identifier generation process in real time, intercept and analyze the identifier generation logic. If it detects that the alternative identifier generated by the advertising SDK is used for cross-application or cross-device tracking, the system will automatically prevent its upload or use.

[0071] API Access Permission Control: At the application layer, it also includes the management of the advertising SDK's access permissions. Through a dynamic permission control mechanism, the system will dynamically adjust the advertising SDK's access permissions according to the user's privacy settings, prohibiting unauthorized applications from obtaining advertising identifiers through the API. This effectively prevents the advertising SDK from obtaining sensitive information without the user's consent.

[0072] System-level Analysis: The system level is the basis of the technical solution of this invention, covering the storage, access control, and permission management of advertising identifiers within the operating system. The security mechanism at the system level further improves the privacy protection ability of advertising identifiers through operating system-level monitoring and intervention. The specific implementation methods are as follows:

[0073] Permission Control in the System Service Layer: In the system service layer, the storage and management of advertising identifiers are strictly controlled by permissions. The system will perform dynamic verification on the access and storage of advertising identifiers according to the preset privacy policy. When an illegal access request is detected, the system will reject the request through the permission verification mechanism to ensure that advertising identifiers cannot be obtained by malicious applications.

[0074] Privacy Data Storage and Isolation: The system level also involves the storage and isolation of privacy data. To prevent identifiers from being randomly accessed by unrelated applications on the device, the system will store the identifier data in an encrypted area and protect it through strict file access permission management. Any application that fails to pass the permission verification cannot read or modify the identifier data, thereby reducing the risk of data leakage.

[0075] Log Monitoring and Auditing at the Operating System Level: This invention introduces a log monitoring and auditing mechanism at the operating system level. The system will record all operation logs related to the storage, transmission, and access of advertising identifiers to ensure that the source of responsibility can be traced in the event of a privacy leakage incident. At the same time, these logs can be used for subsequent security audits and problem troubleshooting.

[0076] Multi-level Data Flow Monitoring of Advertising Identifiers: The core idea of this invention is to comprehensively master the acquisition, transmission, and use process of advertising identifiers through a multi-level monitoring mechanism. Specifically, we have conducted a detailed analysis and monitoring of the following levels:

[0077] Application layer monitoring: The advertising SDK obtains identifiers through APIs and uploads them to the advertising network. For this purpose, the present invention deploys a data flow monitoring tool to intercept and parse network packets, extract advertising identifiers and other possible alternative identifiers (such as device hardware information, dynamically generated UUIDs, etc.). When the user disables the advertising tracking function, the system will monitor whether the advertising SDK can still obtain identifiers or generate new identifiers through other means. By dynamically monitoring the behavior of the SDK, the present invention can identify whether there is a situation of tracking user behavior through hardware information or other data.

[0078] Application framework layer monitoring: At this layer, the management of advertising identifiers involves the transparency of API calls and permission control. The present invention monitors the calls of APIs related to advertising identifiers and detects in real time whether there are API abuses or permission control vulnerabilities. By analyzing the permission settings and API access logs of the application framework layer, the present invention can identify whether unauthorized applications access identifiers through the framework layer. System service layer monitoring: As the core layer for storing and controlling the permissions of advertising identifiers, the system service layer directly affects the security of identifiers. The present invention monitors system properties (such as the getprop command), the settings database (Settings Provider), and the Binder service to detect whether there are permission configuration vulnerabilities, ensuring that unauthorized applications cannot obtain or tamper with advertising identifiers through the system service layer.

[0079] Dynamic permission control mechanism: To further enhance the privacy protection of advertising identifiers, the present invention introduces a mechanism based on dynamic permission control. This mechanism is mainly applied to the permission verification of the system service layer to ensure that only applications authorized by the user can access identifier data during the access and storage of identifiers. The specific implementation steps are as follows:

[0080] Permission verification mechanism: The system service layer controls the access to advertising identifiers through permission verification. By monitoring the permission configurations of the Binder service, the settings database, and system properties in real time, the present invention can dynamically adjust the permission verification strategy. When an unauthorized access request is detected, the system will reject the request to ensure that advertising identifiers will not be stolen or misused by malicious applications.

[0081] Dynamic adjustment of permission policies: In addition to traditional permission control, the present invention also introduces a dynamic adjustment strategy. For example, when the user chooses to disable advertising tracking, the system will update the permission configuration in real time to prohibit all unauthorized applications from accessing identifiers. In addition, the system will also automatically update the permission policy by monitoring the user's privacy settings in real time to prevent system configuration leakage or tampering.

[0082] Monitoring of alternative use of unofficial identifiers: In addition to traditional advertising identifiers (GAID and OAID), the present invention also pays special attention to the use of unofficial identifiers, especially when the user disables ad tracking, whether the advertising SDK can still track the user through other channels (such as hardware information, MAC address, UUID, etc.). In order to monitor this process, the present invention designs the following technical solutions:

[0083] Dynamic identifier generation monitoring: The present invention uses a dynamic analysis method to monitor the identifiers generated by the advertising SDK at runtime. The identifier generation function is injected into the SDK through a tool (such as Frida), the identifier generation process is recorded, and the generated identifier is analyzed to see whether it is unique and stable, and then it is determined whether it can replace the official identifier for advertising push.

[0084] Data flow interception and alternative identifier detection: Through the data flow monitoring tool, the present invention can intercept and parse the data packets uploaded by the SDK, extract the identifier field and the attached user information, and analyze whether the alternative identifier is included. During the test, when the official advertising identifier is disabled in the device privacy settings, whether the advertising SDK uses other identifiers (such as device serial number, MAC address, etc.) for data tracking can be determined by comparing the identifier field.

[0085] The technical solution of the present invention includes multiple functional modules, each of which has different working responsibilities, ensuring that the privacy protection effect of the advertising identifier is improved from all angles. The following is a detailed description of the main functional modules:

[0086] Data flow monitoring module: This module is responsible for real-time interception, parsing and analysis of the advertising SDK's network data flow and extracting identifier information. This module can identify whether the advertising SDK uses unofficial identifiers for user tracking and record relevant data.

[0087] Dynamic permission control module: This module is responsible for real-time monitoring and adjusting the permission configuration of the system service layer to ensure that only applications authorized by the user can access the advertising identifier. This module will update the permission policy in a timely manner when the permission settings change to prevent unauthorized access.

[0088] Alternative identifier detection module: This module monitors and analyzes whether the advertising SDK obtains user identifiers through other means (such as hardware information, MAC address, etc.) to replace official identifiers for advertising push. This module can detect the use of alternative identifiers through a combination of data packet analysis, dynamic injection tools and static analysis.

[0089] Modular Design: In the core technical solution of the present invention, the privacy protection function is achieved through the joint cooperation of multiple modules (user layer, application layer, system layer). In actual applications, certain module(s) can be selectively enabled according to specific circumstances. For example, if the user does not care about the privacy settings of certain applications or does not mind whether the advertising SDK uses alternative identifiers, some function modules can be selected to be disabled, which can reduce system resource consumption and improve efficiency. This modular design makes the present invention more adaptable in different environments and can be flexibly adjusted according to different requirements.

[0090] Simplified Alternative Identifier Monitoring Scheme: The alternative identifier monitoring mechanism proposed in the present invention involves dynamic injection tools and data flow monitoring tools to identify and intercept the use of alternative identifiers. However, in some specific scenarios, there may be problems of excessive resource consumption. For example, in the case of weak device performance or limited network bandwidth, the performance overhead of comprehensively monitoring and analyzing all data packets is relatively large. Therefore, a simplified alternative identifier monitoring scheme can be considered, such as enabling identifier monitoring only at critical moments (such as when user behavior changes or when an advertisement recommendation occurs), rather than all-day and full-scale monitoring. This scheme can reduce the system burden while ensuring the privacy protection effect by adjusting the monitoring timing and scope.

[0091] Machine Learning-Based Dynamic Privacy Setting Adjustment: The present invention adopts a real-time adjustment mechanism based on user privacy settings in dynamic permission control. However, the efficiency and accuracy of this mechanism can be further improved. Therefore, machine learning technology can be introduced to automatically learn and adjust the user's privacy preferences based on historical user behavior data and changes in application scenarios. For example, the system can predict the possible future privacy setting requirements of the user by analyzing the user's past operation behaviors (such as whether the advertising identifier is often turned off, whether personalized advertisements are allowed, etc.), and thus adjust the privacy protection strategy in advance. This machine learning-based dynamic adjustment scheme can provide more intelligent and personalized privacy protection on the premise of seamless operation.

[0092] The application embodiment of the present invention provides a computer device, which includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor is caused to execute the steps of the method.

[0093] The application embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor is caused to execute the steps of the method.

[0094] The application embodiment of the present invention provides an information data processing terminal, and the information data processing terminal includes a system.

[0095] Table 1 Advertising Identifier Situations of Each Mobile Phone Manufacturer

[0096]

[0097] Among them, √ indicates that relevant content exists, × indicates that relevant content is missing, and 乄 indicates that relevant content exists but is not actually effective. As can be seen from the table, in terms of OAID-related settings, except for Google's Pixel, which does not add this identifier, other domestic mobile phone manufacturers have OAID content and settings, and also provide options to limit ad tracking. However, in actual tests, OnePlus, OPPO and vivo found that even if ad tracking was turned off in time, personalized ad recommendations still existed. In addition, only Meizu will ask users whether to authorize ad tracking related content when using the app, while other mobile phone manufacturers will turn it on by default. After actual testing, it was found that Honor, Huawei and ZTE all have the possibility of advertising identifiers leaking in the public space of the system, making them readable by any three parties. In terms of GAID-related settings, some domestic mobile phones do not have relevant content. Some Xiaomi models have GAID but do not provide a UI for related settings, nor do they provide a UI for limiting ad tracking. The same is true for some vivo models, which means that there is no option to turn off this function. Some Meizu models provide setting options, but they are not actually effective. In addition, in the ad tracking test related to GAID, all manufacturers' mobile phones did not ask whether to authorize.

[0098] Through in-depth detection of 300 mainstream mobile applications, the study revealed the distribution characteristics and implementation methods of unauthorized device identifier collection in third-party applications. Figure 3 As shown in the data, 95% of the apps followed the compliant identifier usage specifications, while 5% of the apps had privacy violations to varying degrees. Among them, 12 apps built user portraits by obtaining non-resettable hardware identifiers.

[0099] The study also quantified the abuse of various types of identifiers: 42.9% of violations involved Device ID / IMEI / MEID; IMSI and PCB serial number each accounted for 21.4%. The study also found that after experiments, there are cases where apps collect two or more device identifiers at the same time. For example, Kuaiying collects IMEI and PCB serial number at the same time, and generates a unique device fingerprint through a hash algorithm, which is 67% more unique than a single identifier.

[0100] More concealed illegal means are reflected in the external storage evasion technology. Experiments found that 3 applications encrypt identifiers and store them in public directories to evade system permission control. For example, Kuaishou and Amap obtain identifiers from remote servers and store them in the following paths: / storage / emulated / 0 / .oukdtft and / storage / emulated / 0 / backups / .adiu respectively. Baidu Map hides identifiers by storing the identifiers provided by the system in / storage / emulated / 0 / backups / .SystemConfig / .cuid. Any application with the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can read such files, which is extremely likely to form a cross-application data leakage channel.

[0101] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. The hardware part can be implemented using dedicated logic; the software part can be stored in a memory and executed by an appropriate instruction execution system, such as a microprocessor or dedicated designed hardware. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that the above devices and methods can be implemented using computer-executable instructions and / or included in processor control code. For example, such code is provided on a carrier medium such as a disk, CD, or DVD-ROM, a programmable memory such as a read-only memory (firmware), or a data carrier such as an optical or electronic signal carrier. The devices and modules of the present invention can be implemented by hardware circuits of programmable hardware devices such as very large scale integrated circuits or gate arrays, semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, etc., or programmable logic devices such as field programmable gate arrays, or can be implemented by software executed by various types of processors, or can be implemented by a combination of the above hardware circuits and software, such as firmware.

[0102] As described above, the above are only specific embodiments of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, any modifications, equivalent replacements, and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be covered by the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism, characterized in that, Including: S1, User-level analysis: Achieve privacy protection of advertising identifiers by directly interacting with users; Provide more fine-grained privacy protection for users by controlling user privacy settings, permission control, and system interaction; S2, Application-level analysis: At the application level, ensure that applications cannot obtain or transmit advertising identifiers in an unauthorized manner by real-time monitoring and intercepting the behavior of advertising SDKs; S3, System-level analysis: Cover the storage, access control, and permission management of advertising identifiers within the operating system. The security mechanism at the system level monitors and intervenes at the operating system level; S4, Multi-level data flow monitoring of advertising identifiers: Comprehensively master the acquisition, transmission, and usage process of advertising identifiers through a multi-level monitoring mechanism; S5, Dynamic permission control mechanism: Introduce a mechanism based on dynamic permission control, which is mainly applied to the permission verification of the system service layer to ensure that only applications authorized by users can access identifier data during the access and storage of identifiers; S6, Monitoring the alternative use of non-official identifiers: In addition to traditional advertising identifiers, pay special attention to the use of non-official identifiers, especially when users disable advertising tracking, whether the advertising SDK can still track users through other means.

2. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, wherein The user-level analysis specifically includes: Privacy setting monitoring and management: Deploy a privacy setting monitoring module at the user level to detect the user's selection of advertising tracking in device settings in real time; When the user selects to disable advertising tracking, the system will automatically update the permission policy through the dynamic permission control module to prevent unauthorized applications from continuing to access advertising identifiers; Data flow visualization and feedback mechanism: To enhance the user's sense of control over privacy protection, a data flow visualization function is designed; Through the user interface, users can view in real time which applications are accessing advertising identifiers and the specific data being accessed; The system also provides a feedback mechanism that allows users to choose whether to allow certain applications to access identifiers, increasing user participation; Custom identifier generation: Provide a custom identifier generation function at the user level; When the user disables the official advertising identifier, the system will dynamically generate a unique and non-traceable identifier to ensure that the advertising SDK can still make recommendations based on user behavior while avoiding the use of easily traceable alternative identifiers such as hardware information and MAC addresses.

3. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that The application-level analysis specifically includes: Advertising SDK behavior monitoring: Real-time intercept the behavior of advertising SDKs in applications through data flow monitoring tools at the application layer, focusing on whether the advertising SDK obtains advertising identifiers through API calls; Specifically, the system will analyze the identifier fields in each network request to verify whether the advertising SDK uses legitimate identifiers; If an unauthorized identifier request is detected, the system will immediately block the request and record the relevant logs; Alternative Identifier Detection and Interception: When users disable advertising identifiers, the advertising SDK may continue to track user behavior through alternative identifiers; for this reason, a detection and interception mechanism for alternative identifiers is designed; at the application layer, the system uses a dynamic injection tool to monitor the identifier generation process in real time, intercept and analyze the identifier generation logic; if it detects that alternative identifiers generated by the advertising SDK are used for cross-application or cross-device tracking, the system will automatically prevent their upload or use; API Access Permission Control: At the application layer, it also includes the management of the advertising SDK's access permissions; through a dynamic permission control mechanism, the system dynamically adjusts the advertising SDK's access permissions according to the user's privacy settings, prohibiting unauthorized applications from obtaining advertising identifiers through the API; this effectively prevents the advertising SDK from obtaining sensitive information without the user's consent.

4. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, wherein System-level analysis specifically includes: Permission Control at the System Service Layer: At the system service layer, the storage and management of advertising identifiers are subject to strict permission control; the system dynamically validates the access and storage of advertising identifiers according to the preset privacy policy; when an illegal access request is detected, the system will reject the request through the permission verification mechanism, thus ensuring that advertising identifiers cannot be obtained by malicious applications; Privacy Data Storage and Isolation: The system level also involves the storage and isolation of privacy data; to prevent identifiers from being randomly accessed by unrelated applications on the device, the system stores identifier data in an encrypted area and protects it through strict file access permission management; any application that fails to pass the permission verification cannot read or modify the identifier data, thus reducing the risk of data leakage; Log Monitoring and Auditing at the Operating System Layer: A log monitoring and auditing mechanism is introduced at the operating system layer; the system records all operation logs related to the storage, transmission, and access of advertising identifiers to ensure that the source of responsibility can be traced in the event of a privacy leak; at the same time, these logs can be used for subsequent security audits and problem troubleshooting.

5. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, Multi-level Data Flow Monitoring of Advertising Identifiers specifically includes: Application Layer Monitoring: The advertising SDK obtains identifiers through the API and uploads them to the advertising network; for this reason, a data flow monitoring tool is deployed to intercept and parse network packets, extract advertising identifiers and other possible alternative identifiers; when the user disables the advertising tracking function, the system will monitor whether the advertising SDK can still obtain identifiers through other means or generate new identifiers; by dynamically monitoring the behavior of the SDK, it is possible to identify whether there is a situation of tracking user behavior through hardware information or other data; Application Framework Layer Monitoring: At this layer, the management of advertising identifiers involves the transparency and permission control of API calls; the calls to advertising identifier-related APIs are monitored to detect whether there are API abuses or permission control vulnerabilities in real time; through the analysis of the permission settings and API access logs at the application framework layer, it is possible to identify whether there are unauthorized applications accessing identifiers through the framework layer; System Service Layer Monitoring: As the core layer for advertising identifier storage and permission control, the system service layer directly affects the security of identifiers. By monitoring system properties, the settings database, and the Binder service, it detects whether there are permission configuration vulnerabilities to ensure that unauthorized applications cannot obtain or tamper with advertising identifiers through the system service layer.

6. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that The dynamic permission control mechanism specifically includes: Permission Verification Mechanism: The system service layer controls access to advertising identifiers through permission verification. By monitoring the permission configurations of the Binder service, the settings database, and system properties in real time, it can dynamically adjust the permission verification policy. When an unauthorized access request is detected, the system will reject the request to ensure that advertising identifiers are not stolen or misused by malicious applications. Dynamic Adjustment of Permission Policy: In addition to traditional permission control, a dynamic adjustment policy is introduced. For example, when the user chooses to disable ad tracking, the system will update the permission configuration in real time to prohibit all unauthorized applications from accessing the identifier. In addition, the system will automatically update the permission policy by monitoring the user's privacy settings in real time to prevent system configurations from being leaked or tampered with.

7. The advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that Monitoring of the Alternative Use of Non-Official Identifiers Specifically Includes: Monitoring of Dynamic Identifier Generation: Through dynamic analysis methods, it monitors the identifiers generated by the advertising SDK at runtime. By injecting tools into the identifier generation function of the SDK, it records the identifier generation process and analyzes whether the generated identifiers are unique and stable, and then determines whether they can replace official identifiers for ad delivery. Data Flow Interception and Detection of Alternative Identifiers: Through data flow monitoring tools, it can intercept and parse the data packets uploaded by the SDK, extract the identifier fields and additional user information, and analyze whether they contain alternative identifiers. During the testing process, when the official advertising identifier is disabled in the device privacy settings, whether the advertising SDK uses other identifiers for data tracking can be determined by comparing the identifier fields.

8. An advertising identifier monitoring system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism for implementing the advertising identifier monitoring method based on the multi-level privacy protection mechanism as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, including: Data Flow Monitoring Module: This module is responsible for intercepting, parsing, and analyzing the network data flow of the advertising SDK in real time to extract identifier information. This module can identify whether the advertising SDK uses non-official identifiers for user tracking and record relevant data. Dynamic Permission Control Module: This module is responsible for monitoring and adjusting the permission configuration of the system service layer in real time to ensure that only applications authorized by the user can access advertising identifiers. This module will update the permission policy in a timely manner when the permission settings change to prevent unauthorized access. Alternative Identifier Detection Module: This module monitors and analyzes whether the advertising SDK obtains user identifiers through other means to replace official identifiers for ad delivery. This module can detect the use of alternative identifiers through a combination of data packet analysis, dynamic injection tools, and static analysis.

9. A computer device, the computer device includes a memory and a processor, the memory stores a computer program, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor is caused to execute the steps of the advertising identifier monitoring method based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. An information data processing terminal, the information data processing terminal includes the advertising identifier monitoring system based on a multi-level privacy protection mechanism according to claim 8.

Images