Social-graph aware policy suggestion engine
Systems, devices and methods are disclosed to assist in configuring devices and policies to protect a regional network (e.g., home network) and its users. Users on the network are monitored to determine appropriate configuration settings and preferences by utilizing a combination of internally configured information and externally gathered information for each user. For example, externally gathered information may include information obtained about a user from one or more social media Internet sites. Automatically obtained information may be used to provide or augment policy information such that a user's preference relative to internet content (e.g., content blocking software configuration) may be achieved without requiring an administrator to individually prepare each users security profile and configuration.
1. A machine-readable storage device or storage disk comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a security appliance to at least:
identify a first user within a first social network corresponding to a first social media environment;
collect first user properties corresponding to the first user, the first user properties based on a first user profile for the first user associated with the first social media environment;
collect device information about at least one of devices or networks to be protected by the security appliance;
request a set of recommended security policies from a security policy provider responsive to the first user properties and the device information, the set of recommended security policies based on modifications by a second user to previous security policy recommendations, the second user associated with second user properties, the second user properties based on a second user profile for the second user associated with at least one of the first social media environment or a different social media environment, the second user properties having similarities with the first user properties; and
in response to receiving the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider, implement the set of recommended security policies.
2. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 1 , wherein the modifications are first modifications and the instructions further cause the security appliance to:
detect second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user; and
provide the second modifications to the security policy provider.
3. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the security appliance to:
identify the first user within a second social network;
collect third user properties corresponding to the first user in the second social network;
aggregate the first user properties corresponding to the first user in the first social network and the third user properties corresponding to the first user in the second social network; and
request the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider responsive to the aggregated first and third user properties.
4. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the security appliance to:
identify security software installed on a first device of the at least one of the devices or the networks to be protected by the security appliance; and
request the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider responsive to the first user properties and the identified security software.
5. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the security appliance to configure the security software responsive to the set of recommended security policies.
6. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 1 , wherein the modifications are first modifications and the instructions further cause the security appliance to:
detect second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user; and
modify a recommended set of security policies for a third user based on the second modifications.
7. The machine-readable storage device or storage disk of claim 6 , wherein the instructions further cause the security appliance to send the second modifications and the first user properties to the security policy provider.
8. A security appliance, comprising:
a processor; and
memory including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
identify a first user within a first social network corresponding to a first social media environment;
collect first user properties corresponding to the first user in the first social network, the first user properties based on a first user profile for the first user associated with the first social media environment;
collect device information about at least one of devices or networks to be protected by the security appliance;
request a set of recommended security policies from a security policy provider responsive to the collected first user properties and the device information, the set of recommended security policies based on modifications by a second user to previous security policy recommendations, the second user associated with second user properties, the second user properties based on a second user profile for the second user associated with at least one of the first social media environment or a different social media environment, the second user properties having commonalities with the first user properties; and
implement the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider.
9. The security appliance of claim 8 , wherein the modifications are first modifications and the processor is to:
detect second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user; and
provide the second modifications to the security policy provider.
10. The security appliance of claim 8 , wherein the device information includes information about security software installed on a first device of the devices to be protected by the security appliance.
11. The security appliance of claim 10 , wherein the processor is to send configuration instructions to the security software responsive to the set of recommended security policies.
12. The security appliance of claim 10 , wherein the processor is to:
identify the first user within a second social network;
collect third user properties corresponding to the first user in both the first and second social networks;
aggregate the first and third user properties; and
request the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider based on the aggregated first and third user properties.
13. The security appliance of claim 8 , wherein the modifications are first modifications, and the processor is to:
detect second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user; and
modify the set of recommended security policies for a third user based on the second modifications.
14. The security appliance of claim 13 , wherein the processor is to send the modified set of recommended security policies and the first user properties to the security policy provider.
15. A method of configuring a security gateway appliance, the method comprising:
identifying a first user within a first social network corresponding to a first social media environment;
collecting first user properties corresponding to the first user in the first social network, the first user properties based on a first user profile for the first user associated with the first social media environment;
collecting hardware information about at least one of devices or networks to be protected by the security gateway appliance;
requesting a set of recommended security policies from a security policy provider responsive to the collected first user properties and hardware information, the set of recommended security policies based on modifications by a second user to previous security policy recommendations, the second user associated with second user properties, the second user properties based on a second user profile for the second user associated with at least one of the first social media environment or a different social media environment, the second user properties associated with the first user properties; and
implementing the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider on the security gateway appliance.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the modifications are first modifications, the method further including:
detecting second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user; and
providing the second modifications to the security policy provider.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the hardware information includes information about security software installed on a first device of the devices to be protected by the security gateway appliance.
18. The method of claim 17 , further including sending configuration instructions to the security software responsive to the set of recommended security policies.
19. The method of claim 15 , further including:
identifying the first user within a second social network;
collecting third user properties corresponding to the first user in the second social network;
aggregating the first and third user properties; and
requesting the set of recommended security policies from the security policy provider based on the aggregated first and third user properties.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the modifications are first modifications, the method further including:
detecting second modifications to the recommended security policies by the first user;
modifying the recommended set of security policies based on the second modifications; and
sending the modified recommended set of security policies and the first user properties to the security policy provider.