Mitigating attacks on server computers by enforcing platform policies on client computers

Abstract

In an embodiment, a computer system is configured to receive, from a client computer, a request with one or more values; determine, based on the one or more values, whether the request is from a platform-specific application compiled for a first computer platform; determine, based on the one or more values, whether the platform-specific application is being executed within an emulator being executed by a second computer platform, wherein the second computer platform is different than the first computer platform.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer system for improving security of a computing device comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors and storing a set of security instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:   receiving a request from an application, wherein the request specifies one or more values associated with a computing platform on which the application is being executed;   determining whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular hardware component of the computing platform;   determining one or more actions to perform based on whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular hardware component of the computing platform;   performing the one or more actions.   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the particular hardware component is a global positioning system (GPS). 
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the particular hardware component is a communication interface. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the particular hardware component is a camera. 
     
     
         5 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular software component of the computing platform; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular software component of the computing platform. 
 
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform is unavailable; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a value indicating the particular component of the computing platform is unavailable. 
 
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform:
 determining whether the one or more values includes an invalid value; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes an invalid value. 
 
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform returned a same value multiple times; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform returned a same value multiple times. 
 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the application includes one or more fingerprinting instructions which, when executed, generates the one or more values and includes the one or more values in requests to the computer system, wherein generating the one or more values comprises attempting to interact with one or more hardware components. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 9  wherein generating the one or more values further comprises in response to attempting to interact with a hardware component that is not available, receiving a default value from the computer platform. 
     
     
         11 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause determining a negative action to perform based on determining that the one or more values includes a default value. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 1  wherein the set of security instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause determining a positive action to perform based on determining that the one or more values does not include a default value. 
     
     
         13 . A method for improving security of a computing device comprising:
 receiving a request from an application, wherein the request specifies one or more values associated with a computing platform on which the application is being executed;   determining whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular hardware component of the computing platform;   determining one or more actions to perform based on whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular hardware component of the computing platform;   performing the one or more actions.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the particular hardware component is a global positioning system (GPS). 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the particular hardware component is a communication interface. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the particular hardware component is a camera. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular software component of the computing platform; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a default value associated with a particular software component of the computing platform. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform is unavailable; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a value indicating the particular component of the computing platform is unavailable. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 determining whether the one or more values includes an invalid value; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes an invalid value. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 determining whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform returned a same value multiple times; 
 wherein determining the one or more actions to perform is further based on whether the one or more values includes a value indicating a particular component of the computing platform returned a same value multiple times. 
 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the application includes one or more fingerprinting instructions which, when executed, generates the one or more values and includes the one or more values in requests to a server computer, wherein generating the one or more values comprises attempting to interact with one or more hardware components. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein generating the one or more values further comprises in response to attempting to interact with a hardware component that is not available, receiving a default value from the computer platform. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising determining a negative action to perform based on determining that the one or more values includes a default value. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising determining a positive action to perform based on determining that the one or more values does not include a default value.