Network security and fraud detection system and method

Abstract

A system and method to detect and prevent fraud in a system is provided. The system may uniquely identify physical devices connecting to a network, register unique devices, track end-user logins, associate end-user accounts with specific devices, and share information with multiple network service providers is described.

1 . A network security and fraud detection and prevention apparatus, comprising: 
 a fraud detector comprising a client that gathers information about a network device to generate a device identifier that identifies the network device, a database and a module that receives the device identifier, stores the device identifier in the database and associates the device identifier with end-user account information provided by a network service provider, and wherein the device identifier and end-user account information is shared between the network one or more network service providers to detect fraud using the network device across the network service providers.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the database comprises a plurality of records wherein each record further comprises a host field containing an identifier of a particular network service provider, a user account information field containing information from the particular network service provider that identifies a particular user and the device identifier that uniquely identifies the particular network device.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector further comprises a module that generates a network device identifier for each network device that connects to at least one network service provider, and wherein the network device identifier uniquely identifies each network device in combination with the device identifier.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the device identifier further comprises a fingerprint.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector validates each network device on a periodic random basis.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector validates each network device upon connection of the network device to the network service provider.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector validates each network device when the network device logs onto the network service provider.  
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector validates each network device when the network device performs a transaction with the network service provider.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the fraud detector validates the network device each time that the network device re-connects to the network service provider.  
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the device identifier further comprises a fingerprint.  
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the device identifier further comprises a serial number for a cellular phone.  
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the client is embedded in a software application being downloaded to the network device from the network service provider.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the client is a stand-alone software application that is downloaded to the network device from the network service provider.  
   
   
       14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the client is a piece of code that is automatically downloaded to the network device from the network service provider.  
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the client is downloaded to the network device when the network device connects to the network service provider.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the network device further comprises one of a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, a personal computer and a telephone.  
   
   
       17 . A method for detecting fraud during a connection of a network device to a network service provider using fraud detection information from a plurality of associated network service providers, the method comprising: 
 validating a network device identifier assigned to the network device;    validating the network device identifier;    verifying that the status of the network device identifier based on a set of status rules of the network service provider; and    verifying that the status of the network device identifier are acceptable to the associated network service providers.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising verifying that the number of user accounts per network device identifier are acceptable to the network service provider, and verifying that the number of network device identifiers per user account are acceptable to the network service provider.