Isolated Browser Rendering via Intermediary Server for Malware-Safe Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing secure browsing systems are ineffective against malware infections, resource-intensive, and compromise user experience and security, particularly when virtualization techniques are used, leading to potential breaches and reliance on user IT knowledge.
Innovation Solution
An intermediary server employing web browser engines to render web pages as images, isolating interactions and rendering processes, thereby providing secure access without virtual machines or containers, ensuring fast and efficient protection against malware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If virtualization techniques (VMs or containers) are used to provide secure browsing, then security isolation is improved, but device complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the browser rendering functionality from the full virtual machine or container environment, isolating only the essential web browsing components in a lightweight sandbox. This allows security isolation to be achieved without the overhead of complete virtualization infrastructure, directly addressing the contradiction between security isolation and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary server that acts as a mediator between the user's browser and the target website. This intermediary renders the web page in a controlled environment and transmits the rendered content back to the user, providing security isolation without requiring complex virtualization techniques on the client side, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If virtual machines are used for secure browsing, then security protection is improved, but use of energy and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable sandbox environments that are created, used, and discarded for each browsing session. These lightweight sandboxes provide the necessary security protection without the resource-intensive operation of maintaining persistent virtual machines, directly addressing the contradiction between security protection and energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
By using an intermediary server that handles the rendering and transmission of web content, the system eliminates the need for resource-intensive local virtual machine operations. The intermediary performs the computational work server-side, significantly reducing the energy and computational resources required on the client side while maintaining security protection.
3Reliability
If existing secure browsing systems are used, then security against malware is attempted to be improved, but ease of operation and user experience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediary server transparently handles the security rendering and content transmission processes, making the secure browsing mechanism invisible to the user. The user simply interacts with the web page as if browsing normally, while the intermediary provides malware protection in the background, thus maintaining ease of operation and user experience while improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides self-service security by automatically rendering and sanitizing web content without requiring user intervention or configuration. The sandbox environment automatically detects and blocks malware, and the intermediary server automatically transmits cleaned content, making malware protection transparent and preserving ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An intermediary server provides secure access to a web page of a web-based service upon request of a web server. The intermediary server includes an operating system that runs a new instance of a web browser engine. The web browser engine creates a temporary folder to isolate the new instance from other instances and deletes the temporary folder upon deletion of the new instance. The web browser engine produces an image of a web page rendered in the new instance and transmits an access web page to a web browser. The access web page is configured to retrieve the image from the web browser engine and display the image in the web browser. User interactions are registered and sent to the new instance in the intermediary server. The user interactions are reproduced within the new instance and the new instance produces images of the web page after the user interactions.