Systems and methods for secure cloud-based media file sharing

摘要

Cloud-based systems and methods to securely share electronic files use a cloud or virtualized server to handle management tasks related to file sharing, while file storage is maintained securely by servers that are not part of the cloud. The content of the file to be shared is not transmitted to or by the cloud. Share requests from file senders, notifications to target recipients, and retrieve requests from target recipients are transmitted to and/or by the cloud.

主权项

1. A cloud-based method of securely sharing electronic files using a plurality of server platforms cooperating to implement a virtualized server, the method comprising:
receiving a share request at the virtualized server from a client computing platform associated with a user, wherein the share request includes a file identifier, a target user identifier that identifies a target file recipient, wherein the file identifier identifies an electronic file stored using electronic storage, wherein the electronic storage is managed and accessed independently from the virtualized server through a storage server, wherein the storage server is a private storage server that is associated with the user and uses one or more types of access control, wherein the share request indicates intent by the user to share the electronic file with the target file recipient, and wherein the virtualized server uses one or more types of access control that are independent from the one or more types of access control used by the private storage server; assigning, at the virtualized server, a cloud identifier to identify the electronic file based on the file identifier, wherein assigning the cloud identifier includes storing an association between the cloud identifier and the target user identifier; providing a notification to the target file recipient by the virtualized server, wherein the notification indicates intent by the user to share the electronic file, and wherein the notification includes the cloud identifier; receiving a retrieve request at the virtualized server from a target computing platform associated with the target file recipient, wherein the retrieve request includes the cloud identifier, and wherein the retrieve request indicates intent by the target file recipient to receive a copy of the electronic file identified by the cloud identifier; verifying that the retrieve request is received from the target file recipient as intended in the share request, wherein verification is based on the stored association between the cloud identifier and the target user identifier; and transmitting one or more instructions from the virtualized server to the storage server that cause retrieval of the copy of the electronic file from the storage server and transmission of the copy of the electronic file to the target computing platform such that the copy of the electronic file is neither stored on the virtualized server nor transmitted through the virtualized server.