Method and apparatus for evaluating hygiene of a computer

1. A computer implemented method of evaluating hygiene of a computer, the method comprising:

analyzing attributes of an operating system on the computer to assign values to operating system state variables, wherein the attributes of the operating system include a level of clutter of at least one of (a) system configuration files associated with the operating system and (b) files in a file system associated with the operating system, and wherein the values assigned to the operating system state variables associated with the level of clutter measure at least one of (i) a count of system configuration keys in the system configuration files, and (ii) a count of files and directories in the file system;

analyzing attributes of application software installed on the computer to assign values to application software state variables, wherein the application software includes an Internet browser, wherein the attributes of the application software include downloaded file attributes, wherein the downloaded file attributes include at least one of a file type and a file source, and wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables associated with the downloaded file attributes measure whether an associated linked file downloaded by a user within a web page represents a security risk;

assigning weights to the operating system state variables and the application software state variables based on the respective values thereof; and

determining a hygiene rating for the computer based on the weights, the hygiene rating indicative of the propensity of the computer to attract malware.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending the hygiene rating for the computer over a network to a server as a baseline security profile for the computer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attributes of the operating system on the computer comprise at least one of: identity attributes, security attributes, network attributes, file system attributes, and system configuration attributes.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the system configuration attributes include registry attributes and update service attributes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attributes of the application software comprise at least one of: software installation rate, software patch status, security software tool status, performance management tool status, and software digital signature status.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

periodically adjusting the weights assigned to the operating system state variables and the application software state variables to reflect an updated importance of the attributes of the operating system relative to the attributes of the application software based at least in part on current computer security trends.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables measure an assessment of a browser security level and an indicator of whether the Internet browser is configured to remember passwords.

8. An apparatus for evaluating hygiene of a computer, the apparatus comprising:

means for analyzing attributes of an operating system on the computer to assign values to operating system state variables, wherein the attributes of the operating system include a level of clutter of at least one of (a) system configuration files associated with the operating system and (b) files in a file system associated with the operating system, and wherein the values assigned to the operating system state variables associated with the level of clutter measure at least one of (i) a number of system configuration keys in the system configuration files, and (ii) a number of files and directories in the file system;

means for analyzing attributes of application software installed on the computer to assign values to application software state variables, wherein if the application software includes an Internet browser, wherein the attributes of the application software include downloaded file attributes, wherein the downloaded file attributes include at least one of a file type and a file source, and wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables associated with the downloaded file attributes measure whether an associated linked file downloaded by a user within a web page represents a security risk;

means for assigning weights to the operating system state variables and the application software state variables based on the respective values thereof; and

means for determining a hygiene rating for the computer based on the weights, the hygiene rating indicative of the propensity of the computer to attract malware.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:

means for sending the hygiene rating from the computer over a network to a server as a baseline security profile for the computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the attributes of the operating system on the computer comprise at least one of: identity attributes, security attributes, network attributes, file system attributes, and system configuration attributes.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the system configuration attributes include registry attributes and update service attributes.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the attributes of the application software comprise at least one of: software installation rate, software patch status, security software tool status, performance management tool status, and software digital signature status.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:

means for periodically adjusting the weights assigned to the operating system state variables and the application software state variables to reflect an updated importance of the attributes of the operating system relative to the attributes of the application software based at least in part on current computer security trends.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables measure an assessment of a browser security level and an indicator of whether the Internet browser is configured to remember passwords.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method of evaluating hygiene of a computer, comprising:

analyzing attributes of an operating system on the computer to assign values to operating system state variables, wherein the attributes of the operating system include a level of clutter of at least one of (a) system configuration files associated with the operating system and (b) files in a file system associated with the operating system, and wherein the values assigned to the operating system state variables associated with the level of clutter measure at least one of (i) a number of system configuration keys in the system configuration files, and (ii) a number of files and directories in the file system;

analyzing attributes of application software installed on the computer to assign values to application software state variables, wherein the application software includes an Internet browser, wherein the attributes of the application software include downloaded file attributes, wherein the downloaded file attributes include at least one of a file type and a file source, and wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables associated with the downloaded file attributes measure whether an associated linked file downloaded by a user within a web page represents a security risk;

assigning weights to the operating system state variables and the application software state variables based on the respective values thereof; and

determining a hygiene rating for the computer based on the weights, the hygiene rating indicative of the propensity of the computer to attract malware.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to further perform the method comprising:

sending the hygiene rating from the computer over a network to a server as a baseline security profile for the computer.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the attributes of the operating system on the computer comprise at least one of: identity attributes, security attributes, network attributes, file system attributes, and system configuration attributes.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the system configuration attributes include registry attributes and update service attributes.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the attributes of the application software comprise at least one of: software installation rate, software patch status, security software tool status, performance management tool status, and software digital signature status.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the values assigned to the application software state variables measure an assessment of a browser security level and an indicator of whether the Internet browser is configured to remember passwords.