Implementing security actions in an advisement system based on obtained software characteristics

• US 10,425,440 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2018
• Issued: 09/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Splunk Inc.
• Original Assignee: Splunk Inc.
• Inventors: Satish, Sourabh, Friedrichs, Oliver, Mahadik, Atif, Salinas, Govind
• Primary Examiner(s): Song, Hosuk
• Application Number:
  US16/107,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20190007448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1, 726 11- 15, 726 22- 23, 726 26, 713153-154, 709223-225, 709229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2425 for supporting services specification, e.g. SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software described herein enhances how security actions are implemented within a computing environment. In one example, a method of implementing security actions for a computing environment comprising a plurality of computing assets includes identifying a security action in a command language for the computing environment. The method further provides identifying one or more computing assets related to the security action, and obtaining hardware and software characteristics for the one or more computing assets. The method also includes translating the security action in the command language to one or more action procedures based on the hardware and software characteristics, and initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in the one or more computing assets.

Claims

1. A method of operating a processing system of an advisement system to implement security actions for a computing environment comprising a plurality of computing assets, the method comprising:

providing security incident information to an administrator associated with the computing environment, wherein the security incident information comprises asset identifiers for assets related to a security incident and enrichment information for the security incident obtained from internal or external sources;

in response to providing the security incident information, identifying a user generated security action in a command language for the computing environment;

identifying one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information related to the security action;

obtaining software characteristics for the one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information;

translating the security action in the command language to one or more action procedures based on the software characteristics; and

initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in the one or more computing assets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of computing assets comprise host computing systems, end user computing systems, routers, switches, or virtual processing systems.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user generated security action in the command language comprises receiving input identifying the security action from an administration console.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the security action comprises blocking at least one interne protocol (IP) address, ending a process on the one or more computing assets, or adding the one or more computing assets into a virtual local area network (VLAN).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the command language comprises a visual programming language.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the security incident is identified based on information generated by a security detection system that monitors the computing assets.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the security incident information further comprises one or more of:

information about a computing asset affected by the security incident, an IP address related to a source of the security threat, a process related to the security incident, and a severity level of the security incident.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the software characteristics are for a plurality of internal or external sources of enrichment data, and wherein the security action is translated into at least one first action procedure based on a first internal or external source of enrichment data and into at least one second action procedure based on a second internal or external source of enrichment data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the security incident information further comprises at least one suggested security action.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures comprises initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in a relative order.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:

providing security incident information to an administrator associated with a computing environment, wherein the security incident information comprises asset identifiers for assets related to a security incident and enrichment information for the security incident obtained from internal or external sources;

in response to providing the security incident information, identifying a user generated security action in a command language for the computing environment;

identifying one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information related to the security action;

obtaining software characteristics for the one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information;

translating the security action in the command language to one or more action procedures based on the software characteristics; and

initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in one or more computing assets.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the plurality of computing assets comprise host computing systems, end user computing systems, routers, switches, or virtual processing systems.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein identifying the user generated security action in the command language comprises receiving input identifying the security action from an administration console.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the security action comprises blocking at least one internet protocol (IP) address, ending a process on the one or more computing assets, or adding the one or more computing assets into a virtual local area network (VLAN).

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the command language comprises a visual programming language.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the security incident is identified based on information generated by a security detection system that monitors the computing assets.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the security incident information further comprises one or more of:

information about a computing asset affected by the security incident, an IP address related to a source of the security incident, a process related to the security incident, and a severity level of the security incident.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the software characteristics are for a plurality of internal or external sources of enrichment data, and wherein the security action is translated into at least one first action procedure based on a first internal or external source of enrichment data and into at least one second action procedure based on a second internal or external source of enrichment data.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the security incident information further comprises at least one suggested security action.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures comprises initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in a relative order.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the apparatus to;

provide security incident information to an administrator associated with a computing environment, wherein the security incident information comprises asset identifiers for assets related to a security incident and enrichment information for the security incident obtained from internal or external sources;

in response to providing the security incident information, identify a user generated security action in a command language for the computing environment;

identify one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information related to the security action;

obtain software characteristics for the one or more internal or external sources of enrichment information;

translate the security action in the command language to one or more action procedures based on the software characteristics; and

initiate implementation of the one or more action procedures in one or more computing assets.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the plurality of computing assets comprise host computing systems, end user computing systems, routers, switches, or virtual processing systems.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein identifying the user generated security action in the command language comprises receiving input identifying the security action from an administration console.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the security action comprises blocking at least one internet protocol (IP) address, ending a process on the one or more computing assets, or adding the one or more computing assets into a virtual local area network (VLAN).

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the command language comprises a visual programming language.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the security incident is identified based on information generated by a security detection system that monitors the computing assets.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the security incident information further comprises one or more of:

information about a computing asset affected by the security incident, an IP address related to a source of the security incident, a process related to the security incident, and a severity level of the security incident.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the software characteristics are for a plurality of internal or external sources of enrichment data, and wherein the security action is translated into at least one first action procedure based on a first internal or external source of enrichment data and into at least one second action procedure based on a second internal or external source of enrichment data.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the security incident information further comprises at least one suggested security action.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures comprises initiating implementation of the one or more action procedures in a relative order.