SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING UNAUTHORIZED ENDPOINTS

• US 20100333177A1
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sophos Limited (Sophos Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sophos Limited (Sophos Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Donley, Daryl E., Keene, David P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,479,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection

Abstract

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for identifying unauthorized endpoints. The present invention includes computer implemented methods and systems for actively polling and monitoring network devices, such as network routers and switches, to obtain information on any or all of the endpoints on a network with which the router or switch may have communicated. Address information acquired through polling is compared with an authorized endpoint list, which is generated from information reported to the store by security agents on the authorized endpoints and which is stored in a security compliance store, in order to identify unauthorized endpoints. Methods and systems disclosed herein also include remediation measures to be taken on the unauthorized endpoints. Related user interfaces, applications, and computer program products are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, performs the steps of:

collecting active endpoint information from each of a plurality of network devices in a computer network, wherein the active endpoint information includes address information from each of a plurality of active endpoint computing facilities communicating through at least one of the plurality of network devices;

forming an active endpoint list wherein the address information is maintained as a list of media access control (MAC) addresses for each of the plurality of network devices;

collecting authorized endpoint information from a data store, wherein the authorized endpoint information was provided, at least in part, through a security agent operating on each of a plurality of endpoints that have been verified as being compliant with a security policy and have been authorized to access the computer network;

forming an authorized endpoint list, wherein each authorized endpoint is represented by the authorized endpoint'"'"'s media access control (MAC) address; and

comparing the active endpoint list to the authorized endpoint list to identify an unauthorized endpoint, wherein the unauthorized endpoint is one of the active endpoints but is not one of the authorized endpoints.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the list of MAC addresses is maintained as a consolidated list comprising the address information collected from each of the plurality of network devices.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the consolidated list is maintained in a central repository accessible to a processor making the comparison of the active endpoint list and the authorized endpoint list.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the authorized endpoint information is stored in the data store in response to the delivery of an IP address.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the network device is a network router.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the network device is a network switch.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the address information included in the active endpoint information is a list of IP addresses.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the address information included in the active endpoint information includes both an IP address and a related MAC address.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the data store is associated with an IP address server.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the information identifying each authorized endpoint is a MAC address with an associated IP address.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the unauthorized endpoint computing facility to be prevented from network access.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein controlling network access includes configuration of the network device by at least one endpoint computing facility to control the endpoint, as identified by at least one of its media access control (MAC) address and its IP address.

13. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the unauthorized endpoint computing facility to be provided only a limited level of network access.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein controlling network access includes configuration of the network device by at least one endpoint computing facility to control the endpoint, as identified by at least one of its media access control (MAC) address and its IP address.