US-12627981-B1 - Security application and method for controlling router security, cyber vulnerabilities and malware

US12627981B1US 12627981 B1US12627981 B1US 12627981B1US-12627981-B1

Abstract

Methods are provided, for controlling router security, cyber vulnerabilities and malware. Such methods may be implemented, for example, via a security application.

Inventors

Brigitte Vantieghem
Francis Chlarie

Assignees

Brigitte Vantieghem
Francis Chlarie

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20231110

Claims (9)

1 . A method performed by a security application of a user terminal connected via a router to a wireless network, comprising: (a) scanning the router through the wireless network, to determine whether one or more ports are open, and displaying, for each open port determined to be amongst the ports that are open, a port number and a description of a port service being performed through the open port, said description permitting determination of whether the open port is targeted by a hacker and is to be closed; (b) determining whether the router is susceptible to one or more vulnerabilities, and displaying, for each vulnerability determined to be amongst the vulnerabilities to which the router is susceptible, a description of the vulnerability; and (c) determining whether an IP address of the user terminal is associated with malware incidents and spamming activities, by searching for listing of the IP address of the user terminal in one or more external engines that maintain blacklists of terminals, and displaying a description of the engines that have blacklisted the IP address.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein (a), (b) and (c) are performed each time that a connection is made to the wireless network by the user terminal.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: (d) displaying a security level selected from the following (i) through (iii); (i) a first security level where all three tests (a), (b) and (c) passed; or (ii) a second security level where only one of the tests failed; or (iii) a third security level where more than one of the tests failed.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein (d) is performed each time that a connection is made to the wireless network by the user terminal.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the description of the vulnerability displayed in (b) includes a CVE (common vulnerabilities and exposures) number.
6 . A method performed by a security application of a user terminal connected via a router to a wireless network, comprising: scanning the router through the wireless network, to determine whether one or more ports are open; displaying, for each open port determined to be amongst the ports that are open, a port number and a description of a port service being performed through the open port, said description permitting determination of whether the open port is targeted by a hacker and is to be closed; and permitting one or more of the ports that are open to be closed.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising: displaying the IP address of the user terminal, a location of the IP address and an Internet service provider providing connection to the router.
8 . A method performed by a security application of a user terminal connected via a router to a wireless network, comprising: (a) determining whether an IP address of the user terminal is blacklisted as being associated with malware incidents and spamming activities, by searching for listing of the IP address of the user terminal in one or more external engines that maintain blacklists of the IP address of terminals; and (b) displaying a description of the engines that have blacklisted the IP address.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising: scanning the IP address of the user terminal through a plurality of Domain Name Service (DNS)-based blacklists and IP reputation services, to facilitate determination in (a) that the IP address has been involved in the malware incidents and spamming activities.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/424,398 filed on Nov. 10, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates generally to mobile security, and more specifically relates to tools (e.g., a method, application software, etc.) for a mobile terminal to be protected for router security and to be resilient against cyber vulnerabilities, malware, etc. BACKGROUND Mobile devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, and users have tendencies to store sensitive information and take other actions that are normally done on non-mobile computing platforms. Malicious parties may seek to compromise the security of a user's mobile device to steal data, snoop on a user's communication, or perform some other type of fraudulent actions. Thwarting malicious code is difficult for the mobile environment. Each user of a Wi-Fi can be the victim of a cyber-attack, as cyber criminals find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in information technology equipment. Thus, there is a need in the mobile security field for tools or provisions to protect users of a wireless local area network (LAN), or another digital environment, and to help them become and stay cyber resilient, such as when internet access is obtained through a home internet router. BRIEF SUMMARY This application provides a disclosure of various inventive aspects that may be implemented, singly or in combination, to shield a mobile terminal connected via a router to a Wifi. The following is merely a brief summary of some of such aspects. In an exemplary embodiment, a security application scans the router through the Wifi network, to determine whether one or more ports are open, and displays, for each open port, a port number and a description of a port service of the open port. In another aspect, the security application may determine whether the router is susceptible to one or more vulnerabilities, and display, for each such vulnerability, a description of the vulnerability. In another aspect, the security application may determine whether an IP address of the user terminal is associated with malware incidents and spamming activities, and display, for engines that have blacklisted the IP address, a description of the engines. Other inventive aspects would also be apparent from reading the detailed description that follows, and/or from reading the listing of claims appended to the detailed description BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features of the subject matter of this disclosure can be more readily understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system including a security application operating in accordance with an embodiment of the present application; FIGS. 2A-2D show schematic representations of respective services of a security application; FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of a router security window of the security application shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 shows a schematic representation of another router security window of the security application shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of another router security window of the security application shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of the security application shown in FIG. 1; and FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of a method performed by the security application shown in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION A listing of claims is appended to this detailed description and various inventive aspects are described in such claims in the listing. However, such aspects as well as other inventive aspects would also be apparent to the skilled person upon reading the detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention that follows, with some reference to the drawings, to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. In describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each aspect of the embodiments includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner. In addition, a detailed description of known functions and configurations will be omitted when it may obscure the subject matter of the present invention. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a mobile device 101 (such as, for example, a smartphone or tablet-type device, although it should be apparent that many, if not all, of the aspects may be implemented for other devices, such as laptop computer, other Wifi-enabled devices, such as having a digital assistant integrated with a voice interface, etc.) is configured to communicate through router 103 with destinations in the Internet 105. The mobile terminal 101 (e.g., mobile phone) has