Title of Invention

Method and System For Managing Identifier Of Instant Messenger

Abstract

Abstract System and Method for Managing Account of Instant Messenger The present invention discloses a system for managing account of Instant Messenger including a process server and a database server, and the process server is adapted to receive enhanced association information of at least one account from at least one client terminal, transmit the enhanced association information to the database server; when receiving a service request from one client terminal, acquire the enhanced association information of an account corresponding to the client terminal from the database server, generate verification information according to the security level of the service request and transmit the verification information to the client terminal to verify the identity of the user using the client terminal; and the database server is adapted to save the enhanced association information of the at least one account. The present invention also provides a method for managing account of Instant Messenger. By applying the present invention, the difficulty level of modifying the password or sensitive information of a stolen account by an account stealer is increased. Further, it is easier for the owner of an account to recover the password of the account. Moreover, the verification information is hard to intercept and the security is ensured.

Full Text

System and Method for Managing Account of Instant Messenger Field of the Invention The present invention relates to Instant messenger technologies, more particularly to a system and method for managing account of Instant messenger. Background of the Invention As a tool for communication, recreation and information acquisition, Instant messenger (IM) has now been accepted by more and more netizens and are becoming a regular part of their life. IM tools are not only used in recreation but also in work of numerous users. Along with the rapid growth of IM user groups, security problems of IM tools are also growing and attracting more and more attention of the public. Security breaches caused by viruses spread through IM tools or theft of accounts become common occurrence. When an account is stolen, the IM service of the account owner is affected and, more seriously, the account owner may also lose virtual properties and face personal information leak. The conventional IM tools usually provide services such as "password protection system" or "password appeal system" for users to get back stolen or lost accounts. When a user register an account, the user selects a password reminder question for a password and configures an answer corresponding to the password reminder question, so that the user may recover the password by answering the password reminder question correctly when the user forgets the password. However, "password protection information" is configured by few users and can be easily forgotten; moreover, the password reminder question and the corresponding answer are transmitted as unencrypted text and can be easily intercepted by Trojan horses programs. Additionally, the user is usually allowed to configure only one question and one answer, the number and difficulty level of the password reminder questions can not be determined according to different security levels, thus sometimes it is very hard to recover a stolen or lost account. The defects of the "password appeal system", such as low confirmation ratio, require users to prepare too many evidences, and the success rate of the "password appeals" is low. In conventional technologies, the association between an account and the owner of the account is weak and a password may be used for multiple services, Therefore, account stealers can easily steal and dispose of an account, or even cause greater loss of the owner of the account. Summary of the Invention The embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for managing account of IM, so that the above disadvantages of the conventional technologies are overcome. The solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention are explained as follows. A system for managing account of Instant Messenger includes a process server and a database server, and the process server is adapted to receive enhanced association information of at least one account from at least one client terminal, transmit the enhanced association information to the database server; when receiving a service request from one client terminal, acquire the enhanced association information of an account corresponding to the client terminal from the database server, generate verification information according to the security level of the service request and transmit the verification information to the client terminal to verify the identity of the user using the client terminal; and the database server is adapted to save the enhanced association information of the at least one account. A method for managing account of Instant Messenger includes: register, by a client terminal, enhanced association information of an account to a process server; and transmitting, by the process server, the enhanced association information to a database server; receiving, by the process server, a service request from the client terminal; acquiring, by the process server, enhanced association information of an account corresponding to the client terminal from the database server, and generating verification information according to the security level of the service request; transmitting, by the process server, the verification information to the client terminal and receiving a verification answer from the client terminal; and determining, by the process server, whether to accept the service request from the client terminal according to the verification answer. By applying the system and method for managing account of IM provided by the embodiments of the present invention, the following effects are achieved. In the embodiments of the present invention, enhanced association information is configured for each IM account, verification information is randomly generated by a process server in a verification process and the verification information is associated with the security level of a service request. In this way, it is much more difficult for account stealers to modify the password or sensitive information of a stolen account. Further, since the verification information corresponding to a question includes the correct answer to the question, it is easier for the owner of the account to answer the question when recovering the password. Moreover, the enhanced association information is transmitted in encrypted form, and the verification information is transmitted as a picture not as unencrypted text. Therefore, the verification information is avoided from being intercepted by Trojan horse programs. Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for managing account of IM in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing account of IM in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention In order to make the object and technical solution of the present invention more apparent, detailed descriptions of the present invention is hereinafter given with reference to the attached drawings and detailed embodiments. The embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for managing account of IM. An account of an IM is associated with information closely related to the owner of the account, so that when the password or other sensitive information of the account is to be modified, the user of the account is verified. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for managing account of IM in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the system includes Database Server 3, Process Server 2 and plurality of Client Terminals 1 (only one is shown). Client Terminal 1 is connected to Process Server 2 via a network and an IM client is installed in Client Terminal 1. A user may use the client of the IM tool to registers an account, implement IM services (e.g., chat, game, etc.), recover an account and appeal for an account etc. Process Server 2 may include Registration Module 20 configured to receive registration. Specifically in the embodiment, Registration Module 20 receives registration corresponding to enhanced association information of an account from Client Terminal 1, and the enhanced association information may include the password corresponding to the account, questions and answers configured by the owner of the account and the security levels corresponding to the questions and answers. Process Server 2 may further include Verification Module 21. When receiving a service request from Client Terminal 1, Verification Module 21 acquires enhanced association information corresponding to the security level of the service request, generates verification information and sends the verification information to Client Terminal 1 to verify the identity of a user using Client Terminal 1. For example, Verification Module 21 may receive a service request to modify the password of the account, a service request to recover the account or a service request to appeal for the account from the user. When verification answers from Client Terminal 1 are not identical with the enhanced association information, Verification Module 21 increases the security level and verifies the identity of the user using Client Terminal 1 again. When the identity of the user is determined to be valid, the service request from the user is transmitted to Registration Module 20 to modify the password, recover the account or appeal for the account; when the identity of the user is determined to be invalid, the service request is rejected directly. Database Server 3 includes or is connected to an Enhanced Association Information Database, and Enhanced Association Information Database saves enhanced association information corresponding to each account. In this embodiment, data transmitted between Database Server 3 and Process Server 2 is encrypted, and Database Server 3 may send the account successfully registered by a user to Client Terminal 1 corresponding to the user. Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing account of IM in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and the method includes a registration process and a verification process. In the registration process, when a user registers a new account or logs into an account without enhanced association information, Process Server 2 requests the user to configure enhanced association information. When the user registers the new account, Process Server 2 requests the user to configure enhanced association information in the process of registering the account. When the user logs into the account without enhanced association information, Process Server 20 notifies the user, in the form of a security alert, to configure enhanced association information of the account, i.e., makeup registration, and the registration process is performed, i.e. Step S20 is performed. The enhanced association information includes questions and answers closely related to the owner of the account, e.g., age, height, favorites, birthplace, mother school, etc. In Step S21, when the user enters the registration process of the enhanced association information, Process Server 2 may first collect questions in either of the following two ways. In the first way which may be regarded as the default way, Process Server 2 provides a fixed number of questions, and the questions are acquired in the form of a picture or encrypted data from Database Server 3 so as not to be intercepted by Trojan horses programs easily during the transmission. In the second way, the owner of the account provides the questions according to the practical condition of the owner. When the user thinks that the questions provided by Process Server 2 are hard to answer or remember, the user may configure questions and answers. When the questions and the answers are configured, the user submits the questions and answers in Step S22, Process Server 2 encrypts and transmits the questions and answers to Database Server 3. In Step S23, Database Server 3 saves the enhanced association information. When a piece of enhanced association information is successfully received by Process Server 2, the enhanced association information is used as the sole foundation of the identity verification when the user operates on sensitive information. In the verification process, Process Server 2 receives a service request, e.g., to modify the password of an account, to pay online, or to operate on other sensitive information related to the account, from Client Terminal 1 (the account corresponding to Client Terminal 1 may be invalid at present), Process Server 2 enters the verification process, i.e. Step S24 to verify the identity of the user using Client Terminal 1 according to the enhanced association information configured in advance by the owner of the account. Verification Module 21 acquires the enhanced association information of the account, i.e., saved questions and answers, from Database Server 3; the saved questions and answers are transmitted to Verification Module 21 as a picture. Database Server 3 generates a number of false answers to the questions according to the correct answers, and the false answers are very close to the correct answers and are meant to be interfering. Afterward, in Step S25, Process Server 2 randomly selects a preset number of questions, correct answers and false answers to the questions according to the security level corresponding to the service request from Client Terminal, generates verification information in the form of a picture, and sends the verification information to Client Terminal 1. Since the questions and answers are transmitted as a picture and are display in a random order, it is not easily to intercept the questions and answers by Trojan horses programs. The security level corresponding to the service request from Client Terminal 1 is determined according to the potential threat of loss the service request poses to the owner of the account. For example, when the user requests to modify the password of the account, the system may determine the service request as of highest security level, and Process Server 2 may ask all saved questions to the user. When the user requests an action of a low security level, Process Server 2 may ask only a few questions. In Step S26, Client Terminal 1 answers the questions in the received verification information and submits verification answers to Process Server 2. In Step S27, Verification Module 21 of Process Server 2 determines whether the verification answers from Client Terminal 1 are correct according to the correct answers from Database Server 3. When the verification answers are correct, the service request from Client Terminal 1 is 7 accepted and forwarded to Registration Module 20 or Database Server 3 according to the type of the service request. For example, when the service request from Client Terminal 1 requests to modify the password, the service request from Client Terminal 1 is forwarded by Verification Module 21 to Registration Module 20, and the process of password modification is started. When the verification answers from Client Terminal 1 are incorrect, Verification Module 21 increases the security level, randomly selects more questions and answers including false answers, generates new verification information in the form of a picture, and sends the new verification information to Client Terminal 1. The above process is repeated for a preset number of times. When the verification answers from Client Terminal 1 are still incorrect after the preset number of times, Verification Module 21 of Process Server 2 determines the user as invalid user and rejects the service request. In the embodiments of the present invention, an account of IM is associated with information closely related to the owner of the IM account. When the password or other sensitive information of the account is to be modified, the user of the account is verified. Therefore, the security of the account is ensured and the account is avoided from being used by invalid user. According to the embodiments of the present invention, the questions and answers including false answers in the enhanced association information are transmitted as a picture. Further, in the verification process, the questions to be answered are randomly selected by the process server, and the questions and available answers are shown at random order. Moreover, the process server determines different security levels according to the service request from the client terminal, and the security levels determine the number and difficulty level of the questions to be answered. Therefore, since the enhanced association between the account and the owner of the account, it is much more difficult for account stealers to change the password or sensitive information of a stolen account. Further, the verification information corresponding to a question includes the correct answer to the question, it is easier for the owner of the account to answer the question while recovering the password. Moreover, the enhanced association information is transmitted in encrypted form or as a picture, and the verification information is also transmitted as a picture not as unencrypted text. Therefore, the verification information is avoided from being intercepted by Trojan horses programs. Obviously, the above is only preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not for use in limiting the protection scope of the embodiments of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent substitution, and improvement without departing from the principle of the present invention should be covered in the protection scope of the present invention.

Documents:

4325-CHENP-2008 AMENDED CLAIMS 05-12-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 05-12-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 08-04-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 05-12-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 26-08-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 FORM-1 05-12-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 FORM-3 26-08-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 POWER OF ATTORNEY 05-12-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 POWER OF ATTORNEY 26-08-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 AMENDED CLAIMS 26-08-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 31-10-2014.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 PRIORITY DOCUMENT 26-08-2013.pdf

4325-CHENP-2008 - Petiton 137 - POR.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 abstract.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 claims.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 correspondence-other.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 description (completed).pdf

4325-chenp-2008 drawing.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 form-1.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 form-18.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 form-26.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 form-3.pdf

4325-chenp-2008 form-5.pdf