Software vulnerability notification via icon decorations

摘要

A computer identifies computer software applications installed on a computer. The computer sends an electronic request to a program on a server computer that extracts information about the computer software applications identified having a vulnerability. The computer receives the information that is extracted. The computer generates an icon decoration for the vulnerability, wherein the icon decoration readily displays the level of risk associated to the vulnerability and information about a security update for the vulnerability. The computer adds the icon decoration onto each icon of the one of the computer software applications identified and each icon of electronic documents associated to the one of the computer software applications identified.

主权项

1. A method for generating an icon decoration that readily notifies an end-user about a vulnerability associated to a computer software application, the method comprising the steps of:
identifying computer software applications installed on a computer; sending an electronic request to a program on a server computer that extracts information, from a database, about the computer software applications identified, wherein the information includes at least a vulnerability of one of the computer software applications identified, a level of risk associated to the vulnerability, and information about at least one of a security patch for the one of the computer software applications identified and instructions to configure the one of the computer software applications identified in order to minimize the level of security risk associated to the vulnerability; receiving the information that is extracted from the database; generating an icon decoration for the vulnerability, wherein the icon decoration readily displays the information that is extracted; and adding the icon decoration onto each icon of the one of the computer software applications identified and each icon of electronic documents associated to the one of the computer software applications identified.