DLP System UI Context Hooking for File Sensitivity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems face challenges in accurately enforcing data leak prevention policies due to the inability to distinguish between sensitive and non-sensitive files when multiple files are opened and manipulated by a single application, leading to potential data leakage.
Innovation Solution
The enhancement of DLP systems by incorporating 'context' information from user interface (UI) hooks, such as application window contents, UI elements, and user interactions, to complement OS API hooking, enabling more accurate enforcement decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If OS API hooking is used to monitor all file operations, then data leakage coverage is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to inability to distinguish sensitive files from non-sensitive files
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (UI hooking layer) between the OS API hooks and the DLP policy enforcement engine. This intermediary captures UI context information (window titles, file names displayed in the user interface) and correlates it with the file operations detected by OS API hooks, enabling accurate identification of which specific file is being operated on without requiring application-specific plugins
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds another dimension of information collection by monitoring the user interface layer in addition to the OS API layer. By capturing file operation context from both the system call level (OS APIs) and the user interface level (window titles, displayed file names), the system creates a multi-dimensional view that enables precise file identification and sensitivity determination
2Measurement precision
If application-specific plugins are developed to monitor each application's behavior, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal monitoring mechanism that works across multiple applications without requiring application-specific plugins. The UI hooking system captures file operation context from the user interface layer, which is common to all applications, enabling a single generic solution to monitor and identify sensitive files across diverse applications uniformly
Data Source
AI summary
A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) system is enhanced according to this disclosure by augmenting the information obtained from OS API hooking with “context” information obtained from other sources, such as by monitoring an endpoint's user interface (UI). In one embodiment, the additional “context” information is obtained from one or more user interface hooks that provide the DLP system with additional information, such as the contents of one or more application windows, the UI elements contained in a particular display window, window activation or deactivation, window resizing, user input, pointer operations, and the like. This UI information defines a “context” of the application, namely, its operating state (including, without limitation, its display state), and associated user actions that define that state. When a particular OS API hook is invoked by the application, the DLP solution uses the context information to make a more accurate enforcement decision, preferably based on the UI context.