Client capture of vulnerability data
A security information management system is described, wherein client-side devices preferably collect and monitor information describing the operating system, software, and patches installed on the device(s), as well as configuration thereof. A database of this information is maintained, along with data describing vulnerabilities of available software and associated remediation techniques available for it. The system exposes an API to support security-related decisions by other applications. For example, an intrusion detection system (IDS) accesses the database to determine whether an actual threat exists and should be (or has been) blocked.
1 . A computing system, comprising:
a plurality of networked computing devices; and
a database containing configuration information for each of the plurality of networked computing devices;
wherein each of the networked computing devices comprises:
a processor; and
a memory encoded with programming instructions executable by the processor to
monitor the configuration of the computing device and
communicate the configuration of the computing device to the database.