Web Account Segmentation for Privacy Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web-based email services expose users' private information, such as correspondents' IDs, mail contents, and messenger conversations, even when passwords are entered, leading to unwanted exposure.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for managing web-based service accounts that allow users to set a hiding indication on selected accounts, storing sensitive information in a separate mailbox and requiring additional authentication, like a unique password or nickname, to access it, making the account invisible during specified periods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a password is required to prevent information exposure, then security is improved, but password compromise still leads to information exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments user accounts into hidden accounts and non-hidden accounts. Hidden accounts are separated from the main account list and require additional authentication beyond the main password. This segmentation ensures that even if the main password is compromised, information in hidden accounts remains protected.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-designating certain accounts as hidden before any security breach occurs. Users can set hiding indications in advance, and the system prepares separate storage locations and authentication mechanisms for these accounts beforehand, so that when password compromise occurs, the hidden accounts are already protected.
2Ease of operation
If all user accounts are visible for easy access, then ease of operation is improved, but privacy protection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the account management interface into visible account sections and hidden account sections. Non-hidden accounts remain easily accessible and visible in the main interface, while hidden accounts are segmented into a separate, protected section that only appears after additional authentication. This maintains ease of operation for regular accounts while protecting privacy for sensitive accounts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by giving different visibility and access characteristics to different accounts based on user preferences. Some accounts are made visible and easily accessible, while others are made hidden and require additional authentication. This local differentiation allows the system to optimize for both ease of operation and privacy protection depending on the specific account.
3Reliability
If additional authentication is required for hidden accounts, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal authentication mechanism that handles both regular account access and hidden account access through a unified interface. The same account management system serves multiple functions: managing visible accounts, managing hidden accounts, and handling the transition between them. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate complex systems while maintaining enhanced security for hidden accounts.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a method and apparatus for managing a web based service account. The web based service account management apparatus may select, from among web based service accounts, an account undesired to be exposed to others, and may display an account set with a hiding indication only when a user authenticated through a user authentication process desires to read the account.