US Patent 8015284 Discerning use of signatures by third party vendors

Bait files and signatures allow security software vendors to track both authorized and unauthorized usage of the security vendor's signatures/products by third party security vendors. A bait file providing module anonymously provides a bait file to a third party security vendor for security detection, where the bait file is a non-malware file. A signature providing module provides a bait signature corresponding to the bait file that is included in a signature database which is made publicly available. A scanner monitoring module monitors security detections made over a period of time by a security scanner operated by the third party vendor. A determination module determines whether the scanner positively detected the bait file following the release of the bait signature for the bait file. A use detection module detects, in response to a positive determination, that the third party vendor used the bait signature provided to detect the bait file.