JP2009053998A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an environment, where authentication information is decoded by means of a retrial, from getting when authentication is rejected by illegal authentication information. <P>SOLUTION: When secret information output instruction is inputted from an operation display part of an image forming apparatus now, the image forming apparatus starts the operation (step S1), and a user inputs authentication information in accordance with a request of the image forming apparatus (S2). A system control part confirms the inputted authentication information (S3) and determines whether the authentication fails or not by referring to authentication information stored in an original information storage part (S4). When the authentication fails (S4, YES), the system control part instructs a plotter to output white paper and the plotter outputs white paper information (S5) and the processing ends (S7). When the authentication does not fail (S4, NO), secret information stored in the original information storage part is outputted (S6) and the processing ends (S7). Since an illegal user is deluded by white paper output as authentication succeed, an atmosphere for decoding the authentication information is not formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a composite image forming apparatus having a plurality of different processing functions, which can perform user authentication using authentication information such as a user ID and a password.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, composite image forming apparatuses having a plurality of processing functions such as a printer function, a copy function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function have improved functions, and for example, the printer function can be abused. Therefore, a measure for authenticating the user is applied to the image forming apparatus, and only the user who uses a genuine user ID and password can use the image forming apparatus. Nevertheless, there are attempts to use the image forming apparatus with an unauthorized user ID or password.

Conventionally, (a) an invention that allows a terminal device to access a dummy file portion of a server when a terminal device that is an access source makes unauthorized access to the server more than a predetermined number of times via the network (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Invention 1). (B) An invention in which a dummy input screen for inputting a user ID and password is displayed in the multifunction peripheral, and the user who inputs from this screen is determined to be an unauthorized user (hereinafter, conventional) Invention 2) is known (see Patent Document 2). Further, (c) an invention (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Invention 3) is known in which the feature amount of fingerprint information is extracted for each digit of the input PIN (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Invention 3) (see Patent Document 3). Although not described in the patent literature, as shown in FIG. 9, a password input screen is displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus, and when an invalid password is input, an image error is immediately displayed. The device is known.
Japanese Patent No. 3904921 JP 2006-113675 A JP 2001-344605 A

  According to the first aspect of the invention, when the unauthorized access is made a predetermined number of times or more, the terminal device is made to access the dummy file unit, so that the unauthorized user notices that personal authentication has failed at an early number of times. . For this reason, there is a possibility that the authentication information may be decrypted by a retry such as scanning the user ID and password. According to the conventional invention 2, the user who inputs the password from the dummy input screen is immediately determined to be an unauthorized user. According to the conventional invention 3, if the personal identification number and the fingerprint information do not match, the user is immediately determined to be an unauthorized user. Therefore, as in the case of the first and second aspects of the invention, the authentication information may be deciphered due to the retrying notice that the personal authentication has failed. The same applies to the image forming apparatus having the display unit of FIG.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object is to prevent an unauthorized user from deciphering authentication information by retrying when authentication is denied due to unauthorized authentication information. In addition, the second object is to improve the security of the image forming apparatus. A third object is to make it possible to detect a user who uses unauthorized authentication information.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in the composite type image forming apparatus having a means for performing user authentication based on authentication information, a means for performing a dummy operation on condition that the authentication by the user authentication means has failed, and the dummy operation is controlled. And an image forming apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the means for performing the dummy operation is a change output of the stored original information, a change storage of the read information, or a change transmission of the facsimile transmission, or a storage. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that it displays the changed personal information.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for modifying the change storage information of the read information.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, further comprising means for displaying an authentication success irrespective of the determination of the success or failure of the authentication. Device.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, when the dummy work is performed, the fact that unauthorized authentication information has been used is notified to a management source apparatus of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus comprising a notification means.

  According to the present invention, when the authentication is denied due to the use of unauthorized authentication information, the unauthorized user does not immediately notice the denial of authentication, and therefore does not feel like trying to decode the authentication information by retrying. For this reason, the security of the image forming apparatus is improved. Moreover, since the dummy work is performed for a predetermined time, an unauthorized user can be detected during that time.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of a composite image forming apparatus having a scanner function, a printer function, a copy function, and a facsimile function according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an image forming apparatus 100 is necessary for executing the above-described functions (referred to as composite functions), the operation functions of the entire apparatus, and a system control unit 1 that controls functions such as verification related to personal authentication described later, and composite functions. An operation display unit 2 for displaying a result, a scanner 3 for reading a document image, a plotter 4 for printing a read image, and compressing / decompressing the image information. Encoding / decoding unit 5, communication control unit 6 for controlling facsimile communication, network control unit 7 for exchanging signals with the communication control unit 6 and connecting the facsimile to the public switched telephone network PSTN, contents have been intentionally changed Change information storage unit 8 for storing content information, destination storage unit 9 for storing an e-mail address of an administrator, etc. And an original information storage unit 11 for storing authentication information such as a user ID and password, confidential information such as personnel records, and information for each user (hereinafter referred to as original information). .

  In the image forming apparatus 100, when using the apparatus using a composite function, the user inputs authentication information such as a user ID and a password from the operation display unit 2 and selects a function to be used. The system control unit 1 refers to the input user ID and password and the user ID and password stored in the original information storage unit 11, and when it is determined that the user is a genuine user, the use of the image forming apparatus 100 by the function is used. Allow. For example, when the user uses a function for printing out image information stored in the apparatus, the system control unit 1 permits access to the original information storage unit 11 and reading of information, and reads the read original information. Information is passed to the plotter 4. The plotter 4 prints out the passed information.

  Here, there are cases where the image forming apparatus is used by using unauthorized authentication information. Hereinafter, a method for preventing the creation of an environment in which authentication information is to be decrypted by retrying when authentication is denied in such a case will be described.

  (Embodiment 1) An image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that when a printing function is used with unauthorized authentication information and printed out, changed information is output.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing for outputting the changed information as blank paper information. Now, when an instruction to print out confidential information that is the original information is input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (step S1). Is input (S2). The system control unit 1 confirms the input authentication information (S3) and refers to the authentication information stored in the original information storage unit 11 to determine whether the authentication has failed (S4). If unsuccessful (S4, YES), the plotter 3 is instructed to output a blank page, and the plotter 3 outputs blank page information without printing (S5). Then, this process ends (S7). If it is not a failure (S4, NO), the confidential information stored in the original information storage unit 11 is output (S6), and this process is terminated (S7).

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process for outputting the changed information. Note that this information is stored in advance in the change information storage unit 8 by an authentic user so that the changed information is output when the authentication fails. The system controller 1 is programmed to designate and read this information when authentication fails.

  In FIG. 3, when an instruction for printing out confidential information, which is the original information, is input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (step S11), and the user follows the request from the apparatus. Authentication information is input (S12). Subsequently, the system control unit 1 specifies change information to be output when authentication fails by accessing the change information storage unit 8 (S13), and confirms the input authentication information (S14). Further, the system control unit 1 accesses the original information storage unit 11 and refers to the stored authentication information to determine whether the authentication has failed (S15). When it fails (S15, YES), the change information specified in step S13 is output (S16), and this process is terminated (S18). If it is not a failure (S15, NO), the confidential information stored in the original information storage unit 11 is output (S17), and this process is terminated (S18).

  (Embodiment 2) An image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is characterized in that a genuine user can arbitrarily change the changed information.

  When a genuine user inputs a modification of the changed information from the operation display unit 2 and designates predetermined changed information, the system control unit 1 displays the designated change information on the display screen of the operation display unit 2. Therefore, the user arbitrarily changes the displayed information while viewing the screen. This modification is not limited to partial modification. For example, information that is not particularly known among confidential information may be deleted or replaced with different information of a similar type.

  (Embodiment 3) An image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that when the scanner function is used with unauthorized authentication information and the image information is read, the read information is changed to, for example, blank sheet information and stored. And

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing for changing and storing read information. In the figure, when an instruction for reading a scanner is input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (step S21), so that the user inputs authentication information in accordance with a request from the apparatus (S22). . The system control unit 1 confirms the input authentication information (S23). Further, the system control unit 1 accesses the original information storage unit 11 and refers to the stored authentication information to determine whether the authentication has failed (S24). If unsuccessful (S24, YES), the information read by the scanner 3 is changed to blank paper information and stored in the change information storage unit 8 (S25), and the process ends (S27). If it is not a failure (S24, NO), the information read by the scanner 3 is stored in the original information storage unit 11 (S26), and the process is terminated (S27). The read information is stored in a temporary memory (not shown), read from there, and converted into blank paper information.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has a function of confirming read information on a preview screen. When the unauthorized user requests confirmation on the preview screen, the system control unit 1 displays the read information of the temporary memory and erases it after a predetermined time.

  (Embodiment 4) An image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that when a facsimile function is used with unauthorized authentication information and facsimile transmission is performed, the transmission destination is changed and transmitted.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing for changing the transmission destination and performing transmission. In the figure, when a facsimile transmission instruction and a destination telephone number are input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (step S31), and the user provides authentication information in accordance with a request from the apparatus. Input (S32). The system control unit 1 confirms the input authentication information (S33). Furthermore, the system control unit 1 accesses the original information storage unit 11 and refers to the stored authentication information to determine whether authentication has failed (S34). If unsuccessful (YES in S34), after the reading operation by the scanner 3 is finished, the telephone number of the manager of the device stored in advance in the original information storage unit 11 is read, and the communication control unit 6 and the network control unit 7 Facsimile transmission is performed to the telephone number read through the public telephone exchange network (S35), and this process is terminated (S37). If it is not a failure (S34, NO), the information read by the scanner 3 is transmitted by facsimile to the inputted telephone number (S36), and this process is terminated (S37).

  (Embodiment 5) An image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment displays changed personal information when the personal information is displayed with unauthorized authentication information.

  Changed personal information means that if the personal information is an address book consisting of, for example, a FAX number and an e-mail address, the last four digits are sorted in reverse order for the telephone number and FAX number. This is information that has been altered by adding a combination of (for example, nts) below @.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process for displaying the changed personal information. In the figure, when reading of personal information is input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (S41), so that the user inputs authentication information according to a request from the apparatus (S42). The system control unit 1 confirms the input authentication information (S43), and displays “authentication successful” on the display window of the operation display unit 2 (S44). Furthermore, the system control unit 1 accesses the original information storage unit 8 and refers to the stored authentication information to determine whether authentication has failed (S45). If it has failed (S45, YES), the changed personal information stored in advance in the change information storage unit 11 is read, and the changed personal information is displayed with “authentication success” in the operation display unit 2 hidden ( This process is terminated (S48). If it is not a failure (S45, NO), the personal information stored in the original information storage unit 8 is read out and displayed normally on the operation display unit 2 (S47), and the process is terminated (S48).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the display window of the operation display unit 2 that displays the above-described authentication success. In the drawing, “authentication success” is displayed on the liquid crystal type display window 21.

  The display of the authentication success not only in the present embodiment but also in the first to fourth embodiments is performed regardless of the determination of the success or failure of the authentication, so that an unauthorized user can have a strong illusion of authentication success.

  (Embodiment 6) An image forming apparatus according to this embodiment is characterized in that, when an image forming apparatus is used based on unauthorized authentication information, a notification is sent to the administrator of the image forming apparatus by mail transmission. This embodiment can also be implemented in the first to fifth embodiments.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of processing for notifying the administrator of the image forming apparatus of the use of the image forming apparatus based on unauthorized authentication information.

  In FIG. 8, when the use of a predetermined function of the image forming apparatus is input from the operation display unit 2, the image forming apparatus 100 starts this operation (S51), and the user authenticates according to the request of the apparatus. Information is input (S52). The system control unit 1 confirms the input authentication information (S53), accesses the original information storage unit 8 and refers to the stored authentication information to determine whether the authentication has failed (S54). If it fails (S54, YES), the mail text stored in advance in the change information storage unit 8 and the address of the image forming apparatus stored in the destination storage unit 9 are read out and addressed to the administrator of the image forming apparatus. Mail is transmitted from the mail transmitting unit 10 (S55), and this process is terminated (S56). If it is not a failure (S54, NO), the process is terminated without doing anything (S56).

  The content of the e-mail text notified to the administrator is “an unauthorized user may be using the device” or the like. The administrator who has sent this e-mail can detect the presence of a third party who is attempting to use the image forming apparatus illegally. Improve security.

  According to the image forming apparatus according to the embodiments described above, unauthorized users are authenticated by outputting changed information, temporarily reading or facsimile transmission, displaying personal information, and actively displaying authentication success. The illusion of success. For this reason, there is no atmosphere in which the authentication information is to be decrypted, and thus security is improved.

1 is a block diagram of a main part of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the process which outputs the changed information as blank paper information. It is a flowchart of the process which replaces and outputs the changed information. It is a flowchart of the process which memorize | stores reading information as blank paper information. It is a flowchart of the process which changes a transmission destination and transmits. It is a flowchart of the process which displays the changed personal information. It is a figure which shows the example of the display window of the operation display part which displays authentication success. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of processing for notifying an administrator of use of an image forming apparatus based on unauthorized authentication information. It is a figure which shows the display part by which the authentication error is displayed by the input of the conventional illegal password.

Explanation of symbols

  1..System control unit 2..Operation display unit 3..Scanner 4 .... Plotter 5 ... Encoding / decoding unit 6..Communication control unit 7 .... Network control unit 8 .... Change information storage unit, 9 ... Destination storage unit, 10 ... Mail transmission unit, 11 ... Original information storage unit.

Claims (5)

In a composite image forming apparatus having a means for performing user authentication based on authentication information,
Means for performing dummy work on condition that authentication by user authentication means has failed,
Means for controlling the dummy work;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for performing the dummy work is a change output of stored original information, a change storage of read information, a change transmission of facsimile transmission, or a change display of stored personal information. An image forming apparatus.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for modifying read information change storage information.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying authentication success irrespective of the determination of success or failure of the authentication.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying a management source apparatus of the image forming apparatus that unauthorized authentication information has been used when the dummy operation is performed. An image forming apparatus.

Images