IP Library Granted Patent US 11,232,235
Granted Patent B2
US 11,232,235 · App. 16/556,380 · Granted Jan 25, 2022

Generating attack graphs in agile security platforms

Inventors: Eitan Hadar (Nesher, IL); Amin Hassanzadeh (Arlington, VA); Anup Nayak (Potomac, MD)
Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited
G06F21/70G06F16/9024G06F21/577H04L41/14H04L43/026H04L63/1433H04L63/20G06F2221/034G06Q10/06315
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,232,235
App. No.
16/556,380
Granted
Jan 25, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Implementations of the present disclosure include providing a graph representative of a network, a set of nodes representing respective assets, each edge representing one or more lateral paths between assets, the graph data including configurations affecting at least one impact that has an effect on an asset, determining multiple sets of fixes for configurations, each fix having a cost associated therewith, incorporating fix data of the sets of fixes into the graph, defining a set of fixes including one or more fixes from the multiple sets of fixes by defining an optimization problem that identifies one or more impacts that are to be nullified and executing resolving the optimization problem to define the set of fixes, each fix in the set of fixes being associated with a respective configuration in the graph, and scheduling performance of each fix in the set of fixes based on one or more operational constraints.

Claims (44)

1. A computer-implemented method for applying remediations for cyber security in enterprise networks, the method being executed by one or more processors and comprising:

providing, by a security platform, graph data defining a graph that is representative of an enterprise network, the graph comprising nodes and edges between nodes, a set of nodes representing respective assets within the enterprise network, and each edge representing at least a portion of one or more lateral paths between assets in the enterprise network, the graph data comprising a set of configurations, each configuration affecting at least one impact, each impact comprising an effect on an asset within the enterprise network;

determining, by the security platform, multiple sets of fixes for respective configurations, each fix in a set of fixes having a cost associated therewith;

incorporating, by the security platform, fix data representative of the multiple sets of fixes into the graph;

defining, by the security platform, a set of fixes comprising one or more fixes from the multiple sets of fixes by defining an optimization problem that identifies one or more impacts that are to be nullified and executing resolving the optimization problem to define the set of fixes, each fix in the set of fixes being associated with a respective configuration in the graph; and

scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes based on one or more operational constraints.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein resolving the optimization problem is executed using a greedy algorithm and a coverage matrix.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the coverage matrix defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes one or more impacts that the fix nullifies.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the coverage matrix further defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes a linked impact with respect to one or more impacts affected by the fix.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes is executed by performing a multi-objective optimization to minimize one or more of risk and cost for a given objective.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein risk represents a risk of one or more vulnerabilities being exploited over time.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each fix is one of an official fix that wholly resolves a vulnerability of a configuration, a work-around fix that works around the vulnerability of the configuration, and a temporary fix that only temporarily resolves the vulnerability of the configuration.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost comprises one or more of a monetary cost, a temporal cost, and a resource cost.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein assets comprise one or more of information technology (IT) assets and operational technology (OT) assets.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for applying remediations for cyber security in enterprise networks, the operations comprising:

providing, by a security platform, graph data defining a graph that is representative of an enterprise network, the graph comprising nodes and edges between nodes, a set of nodes representing respective assets within the enterprise network, and each edge representing at least a portion of one or more lateral paths between assets in the enterprise network, the graph data comprising a set of configurations, each configuration affecting at least one impact, each impact comprising an effect on an asset within the enterprise network;

determining, by the security platform, multiple sets of fixes for respective configurations, each fix in a set of fixes having a cost associated therewith;

incorporating, by the security platform, fix data representative of the multiple sets of fixes into the graph;

defining, by the security platform, a set of fixes comprising one or more fixes from the multiple sets of fixes by defining an optimization problem that identifies one or more impacts that are to be nullified and executing resolving the optimization problem to define the set of fixes, each fix in the set of fixes being associated with a respective configuration in the graph; and

scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes based on one or more operational constraints.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein resolving the optimization problem is executed using a greedy algorithm and a coverage matrix.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the coverage matrix defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes one or more impacts that the fix nullifies.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the coverage matrix further defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes a linked impact with respect to one or more impacts affected by the fix.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes is executed by performing a multi-objective optimization to minimize one or more of risk and cost for a given objective.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein risk represents a risk of one or more vulnerabilities being exploited over time.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein each fix is one of an official fix that wholly resolves a vulnerability of a configuration, a work-around fix that works around the vulnerability of the configuration, and a temporary fix that only temporarily resolves the vulnerability of the configuration.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the cost comprises one or more of a monetary cost, a temporal cost, and a resource cost.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein assets comprise one or more of information technology (IT) assets and operational technology (OT) assets.

19. A system, comprising:

one or more computers; and

a computer-readable storage device coupled to the one or more computers and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations for applying remediations for cyber security in enterprise networks, the operations comprising:

providing, by a security platform, graph data defining a graph that is representative of an enterprise network, the graph comprising nodes and edges between nodes, a set of nodes representing respective assets within the enterprise network, and each edge representing at least a portion of one or more lateral paths between assets in the enterprise network, the graph data comprising a set of configurations, each configuration affecting at least one impact, each impact comprising an effect on an asset within the enterprise network;

determining, by the security platform, multiple sets of fixes for respective configurations, each fix in a set of fixes having a cost associated therewith;

incorporating, by the security platform, fix data representative of the multiple sets of fixes into the graph;

defining, by the security platform, a set of fixes comprising one or more fixes from the multiple sets of fixes by defining an optimization problem that identifies one or more impacts that are to be nullified and executing resolving the optimization problem to define the set of fixes, each fix in the set of fixes being associated with a respective configuration in the graph; and

scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes based on one or more operational constraints.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein resolving the optimization problem is executed using a greedy algorithm and a coverage matrix.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the coverage matrix defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes one or more impacts that the fix nullifies.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the coverage matrix further defines, for each fix in the multiple sets of fixes a linked impact with respect to one or more impacts affected by the fix.

23. The system of claim 19 , wherein scheduling, by the security platform, performance of each fix in the set of fixes is executed by performing a multi-objective optimization to minimize one or more of risk and cost for a given objective.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein risk represents a risk of one or more vulnerabilities being exploited over time.

25. The system of claim 19 , wherein each fix is one of an official fix that wholly resolves a vulnerability of a configuration, a work-around fix that works around the vulnerability of the configuration, and a temporary fix that only temporarily resolves the vulnerability of the configuration.

26. The system of claim 19 , wherein the cost comprises one or more of a monetary cost, a temporal cost, and a resource cost.

27. The system of claim 19 , wherein assets comprise one or more of information technology (IT) assets and operational technology (OT) assets.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 13, 2019
From: HADAR, EITAN; HASSANZADEH, AMIN; NAYAK, ANUP
To: ACCENTURE GLOBAL SOLUTIONS LIMITED
Reel/Frame 050371/0001 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 62774516 · Dec 3, 2018
Provisional Application 62829696 · Apr 5, 2019
Related Publication 20200175175A1 · Jun 4, 2020
Cited By (9)
US 12,231,461 US 12,284,200 US 12,289,336 US 12,335,296 US 12,339,961 US 12,348,552 US 12,355,798 US 12,470,591 US 12,476,994