Patent Issued for Cyber-security presence monitoring and assessment (USPTO 12010123): Allstate Insurance Company

2024 JUN 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Chen, Tao (Northbrook, IL, US), Hayes, Howard (Glencoe, IL, US), Park, Jason D. (Chicago, IL, US), Parkinson, John S. (Burlington, VT, US), filed on February 1, 2021, was published online on June 11, 2024.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 12010123, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “People and organizations may collect and/or analyze information, such as personal or confidential information of a user. Further, services, such as credit monitoring services or identity protection services, may monitor a user’s account in order to determine if a data breach has occurred. As consumers continue to gain an ever-increasing presence in online environments, there will be an ever-present need to better protect consumers from confidential information being breached (e.g., made available publicly) in order to protect consumers from fraud and/or other harms.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“Aspects of the disclosure address one or more of the issues mentioned above by disclosing methods, computer readable storage media, software, systems, and apparatuses for providing information relating to a risk of a data breach associated with a consumer. This may promote awareness regarding the risk of a data breach involving the consumer.

“Aspects of this disclosure provide a cyber-security data processing system that may identify a consumer, monitor for the presence of confidential information associated with the consumer, and/or establish a value associated with the cyber-security risks associated with the consumer. The cyber-security data processing system may collect information from various networks, devices, and/or services. The cyber-security data processing system may then calculate a value based on a probability that the consumer may experience a data breach. In some instances, the information and/or value may be presented on a marketplace for consumption by service providers.

“Of course, the methods and systems of the above-referenced embodiments may also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard, other embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. The details of these and other embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A cyber-security system, comprising: one or more processors; a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: monitor a plurality of digital accounts associated with a consumer on a communications network; determine a digital footprint for the consumer based on a number of computing devices the consumer uses to access the plurality of digital accounts, wherein the digital footprint represents an online presence of the consumer; detect a cyber-traffic event that changes the digital footprint of the consumer; and adjust an insurance premium of an insurance product associated with the consumer based on the changed digital footprint.

“2. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital accounts comprises a banking account and a social media account.

“3. The cyber-security system of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: assign different weight factors to the social media account and the banking account; and generate the digital footprint based on the different weight factors.

“4. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of digital accounts comprises a web domain that mentions a name or an address associated with the consumer.

“5. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: detect that a credit card number associated with the consumer has been published on a website.

“6. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: detect an occurrence of a fraudulent transaction associated with a banking account of the consumer.

“7. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: determine the digital footprint based on a quantity of digital accounts associated with the consumer.

“8. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: determine that the consumer has reduced the digital footprint by reducing a quantity of digital accounts associated with the consumer; and decrease the insurance premium of the insurance product associated with the consumer based on the reduced digital footprint.

“9. The cyber-security system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the cyber-security system to: monitor consumer activities associated with the digital accounts on an internet comprising a social media network and a dark web.

“10. A method comprising: monitoring a plurality of digital accounts associated with a consumer on a communications network; determining a digital footprint for the consumer based on a number of computing devices the consumer uses to access the plurality of digital accounts, wherein the digital footprint represents an online presence of the consumer; detecting a cyber-traffic event that changes the digital footprint of the consumer; and adjusting an insurance premium for an insurance product associated with the consumer based on the changed digital footprint.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of digital accounts comprises a banking account and a social media account.

“12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the digital footprint comprises: assigning different weight factors to the social media account and the banking account; and determining the digital footprint based on the different weight factors.

“13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of digital accounts comprises a web domain that mentions a name or an address associated with the consumer.

“14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the digital footprint further comprises: determining the digital footprint based on a quantity of digital accounts associated with the consumer.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: monitor a plurality of digital accounts associated with a consumer on a communications network; determine a digital footprint for the consumer based on a number of computing devices the consumer uses to access the plurality of digital accounts, wherein the digital footprint represents an online presence of the consumer; detect a cyber-traffic event that changes the digital footprint of the consumer; and adjust an insurance premium of an insurance product associated with the consumer based on the changed digital footprint.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of digital accounts comprises a banking account and a social media account.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: determine the digital footprint based on a quantity of digital accounts associated with the consumer.”

For more information, see this patent: Chen, Tao. Cyber-security presence monitoring and assessment. U.S. Patent Number 12010123, filed February 1, 2021, and published online on June 11, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(12010123)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)