A business, corporation, and/or company, is commonly referred to as an Enterprise. Cloud computing is generally becoming the platform of choice for Enterprises that want to reduce operating expenses and be able to scale resources rapidly. “Clouds” may be provided by different cloud providers to provide Enterprises access of computing resources over a computer network. Clouds can provide Software-as-a-service (SaaS), sometimes referred to as “on-demand software,” to various Enterprises. SaaS is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally, typically in a cloud, and are accessed by user using, for example, a web browser, over the Internet. SaaS has become a common delivery model for most business applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM).
Privacy and security is becoming a very important factor in a SaaS environment. A cloud provider may have policies to restrict cloud provider employees from having access to Enterprise data that is being stored and accessed at the cloud. The policies, however, may be easily bypassed such that employees of the cloud provider may identify which Enterprise users are accessing what cloud data. The Enterprise may wish to conceal which Enterprise users are accessing the cloud and may wish to not reveal what files are being accessed by a particular user. For example, ACME Enterprise may wish to conceal that the ACME Chief Financial Officer is accessing a quarter end financial report. The conventional policies and security measures at the cloud provider may not provide adequate privacy and security controls for the Enterprise.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds