Automatically collecting data regarding assets of a business entity
First Claim
1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed, control a computer to perform a method for gathering attribute data about elements, the method comprising:
- generating a plurality of element data structures recognizable by a computer system, the plurality of element data structures corresponding to installed software on the computer system;
generating, based on a plurality of fingerprint files, a plurality of collection instructions associated with each element data structure for retrieving attribute data for the element data structure within the computer system, wherein each collection instruction is referenced in a respective fingerprint file specific to a type associated with the element data structure, the fingerprint file indicating attributes of the element data structure;
collecting attribute data using the collection instructions generated based on the fingerprint files, wherein the collected attribute data is stored in a single common data store after post-processing to conform the collected attribute data to the element data structure;
examining the stored attribute data to determine that an element exists within the computer system, wherein the examination includes matching the stored attribute data with attribute definitions of known elements;
generating entries for each matched element, wherein each matched element comprises collected attribute data that matches with attribute definitions of known elements; and
characterizing features of the computer system based on the matched elements found on the computer system from the generated entries.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system to automatically gather attribute data about elements such as networks, network interface cards, operating systems, device types, installed software, processes in execution, financial data, etc. in an organization or a designated subset of the organization. Fingerprint files are used, each fingerprint file corresponding to an element of a specific type and each containing a list of attributes that will be found if that element exists in the system. Each fingerprint contains or points to one or more collection instructions which control a data collector process to attempt to gather attribute data. Each fingerprint contains or points to rules that are used to analyze the attribute data gathered to calculate the probability that the element exists. The rules can be fired sequentially, in if-then-else fashion or can be incorporated in a script in loops and with mathematical manipulations, tests and branching for more sophisticated analysis. Fingerprints can be turned on and off by configuration data and can be used in a logical order to do discovery without any prior knowledge of the systems being analyzed. A refresh schedule and collection calendar control how often the fingerprints are used in some embodiments, and collected data is stored with time stamps to enable analysis of changes in the data over time.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed, control a computer to perform a method for gathering attribute data about elements, the method comprising:
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generating a plurality of element data structures recognizable by a computer system, the plurality of element data structures corresponding to installed software on the computer system; generating, based on a plurality of fingerprint files, a plurality of collection instructions associated with each element data structure for retrieving attribute data for the element data structure within the computer system, wherein each collection instruction is referenced in a respective fingerprint file specific to a type associated with the element data structure, the fingerprint file indicating attributes of the element data structure; collecting attribute data using the collection instructions generated based on the fingerprint files, wherein the collected attribute data is stored in a single common data store after post-processing to conform the collected attribute data to the element data structure; examining the stored attribute data to determine that an element exists within the computer system, wherein the examination includes matching the stored attribute data with attribute definitions of known elements; generating entries for each matched element, wherein each matched element comprises collected attribute data that matches with attribute definitions of known elements; and characterizing features of the computer system based on the matched elements found on the computer system from the generated entries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification