IP Library Granted Patent US 11,206,284
Granted Patent B2
US 11,206,284 · App. 16/530,437 · Granted Dec 21, 2021

Automated threat analysis of a system design

Inventor: Danny V. Dhillon (Bothell, WA)
Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
H04L63/1441H04L63/1416H04L63/1425H04L63/1433
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,206,284
App. No.
16/530,437
Granted
Dec 21, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for automated threat analysis of a system design are provided herein. An example method includes obtaining a design of a security architecture; analyzing the design to identify existing security controls in the architecture; in response to determining that the existing security controls fail to satisfy one or more mitigation criteria for mitigating at least one security threat: identifying one or more of at least one additional security control that mitigates the at least one security threat, and at least one change to at least one of the existing security controls that mitigates the at least one security threat; generating mitigation information indicative of one or more of the at least one additional security control and the changes; and revising the design based at least in part on the mitigation information.

Claims (74)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining a design of a security architecture;

analyzing said design to identify existing security controls in said architecture; and

in response to determining that said existing security controls fail to satisfy one or more mitigation criteria for mitigating at least one security threat:

identifying one or more of at least one additional security control that mitigates said at least one security threat, and at least one change to at least one of the existing security controls that mitigates said at least one security threat;

generating mitigation information indicative of one or more of said at least one additional security control and said changes; and

revising said design based at least in part on said mitigation information;

wherein the method is performed by at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said design indicates at least one of:

one or more processes of said architecture;

one or more dataflows within said architecture;

a type of each of said dataflows;

one or more of the existing security controls; and

storage data locations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein said design comprises at least one of:

one or more data flow diagrams;

one or more sequence diagrams; and

one or more subject-object matrices.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mitigation information comprises a modified design of said architecture, wherein the modified design comprises one or more of:

the at least one additional security control; and

the changes to at least one of the existing security controls.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said mitigation information comprises:

a location within said architecture to implement the at least one additional security control.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said mitigation information comprises:

a new location within said architecture to implement the at least one of the existing security controls.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said analyzing comprises:

identifying said existing security controls based on a set of rules from a security control catalog.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining that said existing security controls satisfy the one or more mitigation criteria for each identified security threat, generating a notification indicating said obtained design is complete.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating educational information corresponding to at least one of the at least one security threat; the at least one additional security control; and the one or more of the existing security controls.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

automatically generating one or more test cases for each of the identified at least one additional security control and/or the existing security controls to verify said one or more mitigation criteria are satisfied.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:

periodically performing said one or more test cases during a software development lifecycle of said architecture.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one security threat corresponds to a type of software weakness that is listed on the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE).

13. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device causes the at least one processing device:

to obtain a design of a security architecture;

to analyze said design to identify existing security controls in said architecture; and

in response to a determination that said existing security controls fail to satisfy one or more mitigation criteria for mitigating at least one security threat:

to identify one or more of at least one additional security control that mitigates said at least one security threat, and at least one change to at least one of the existing security controls that mitigates said at least one security threat;

to generate mitigation information indicative of one or more of said at least one additional security control and said changes; and

to revise said design based at least in part on said mitigation information.

14. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein said design indicates at least one of:

one or more processes of said architecture;

one or more dataflows within said architecture;

a type of each of said dataflows;

one or more of the existing security controls; and

storage data locations.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the mitigation information comprises at least one of:

a modified design of said architecture, wherein the modified design comprises one or more of the at least one additional security control and the changes to at least one of the existing security controls;

a location within said architecture to implement the at least one additional security control; and

a new location within said architecture to implement the at least one of the existing security controls.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the analysis of said design comprises:

identifying said existing security controls based on a set of rules from a security control catalog.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the program code when executed by the at least one processing device further causes the at least one processing device:

to automatically generate one or more test cases for each of the identified at least one additional security control and/or the existing security controls to verify said one or more mitigation criteria are satisfied; and

to periodically perform said one or more test cases during a software development lifecycle of said architecture.

18. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory;

the at least one processing device being configured:

to obtain a design of a security architecture;

to analyze said design to identify existing security controls in said architecture; and

in response to a determination that said existing security controls fail to satisfy one or more mitigation criteria for mitigating at least one security threat:

to identify one or more of at least one additional security control that mitigates said at least one security threat, and at least one change to at least one of the existing security controls that mitigates said at least one security threat;

to generate mitigation information indicative of one or more of said at least one additional security control and said changes; and

to revise said design based at least in part on said mitigation information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the mitigation information comprises at least one of:

a modified design of said architecture, wherein the modified design comprises one or more of the at least one additional security control and the changes to at least one of the existing security controls;

a location within said architecture to implement the at least one additional security control; and

a new location within said architecture to implement the at least one of the existing security controls.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , the at least one processing device being further configured:

to automatically generate one or more test cases for each of the identified at least one additional security control and/or the existing security controls to verify said one or more mitigation criteria are satisfied; and

to periodically perform said one or more test cases during a software development lifecycle of said architecture.

Assignments (9)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053311/0169) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060438/0742 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (050724/0571) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 060436/0088 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST AT REEL 050406 FRAME 421 Recorded Nov 2, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 058213/0825 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 053311/0169 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Oct 15, 2019
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 050724/0571 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 17, 2019
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
Reel/Frame 050406/0421 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 2, 2019
From: DHILLON, DANNY V.
To: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 049950/0531 →