System and method of monitoring and controlling application files

• US 7,529,754 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2005
• Issued: 05/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Forcepoint LLC
• Original Assignee: Forcepoint LLC
• Inventors: Dimm, John Ross, Kester, Harold M., Jones, legal representative, Papa, Joseph, Anderson, Mark Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Shahid A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly; Anh
• Application Number:
  US11/134,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20050210035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10,100-102,104.1 709/203,211 713/165,187,201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/55 Detecting local intrusion or implementing counter-measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method for updating, monitoring, and controlling applications on a workstation. The workstation includes a workstation management module configured to detect the launch or request to access a network by an application. A workstation application server receives data associated with the application from the workstation. The application server module can determine one or more policies or categories to associate with the application by referencing an application inventory database. Once the application server module has the category or policy, it forwards a hash/policy table to the workstation management module. Upon receipt of the hash/policy table, the workstation management module applies the policy that is associated with the application to control network access by the application.

Claims

1. A system, including one or more processors, for collecting network access data for use in updating a monitoring system which controls programs accessing a network, comprising:

a workstation configured such that a program resident thereon can access a network;

a workstation management module coupled to the workstation and configured to detect the program accessing the network, determine whether the program is in a network access database, send program data associated with the program to an application server module if the program is not in the network access database, and apply one or more policies that are associated with the program, wherein the one or more policies are received from an application server module, and wherein the network access database includes a protocol that is associated with the program;

the application server module being coupled to the workstation and configured to receive the program data from the workstation management module if the program was not in the network access database, determine whether the program is operating in a predetermined manner, if the program is not operating in a predetermined manner, then send the program data to an application database factory, if the program is operating in a predetermined manner, then provide the one or more policies associated with the program to the workstation management module;

wherein the application server module comprises;

a classification user interface configured to provide an interface for a network administrator to select the one or more policies that are associated with the program; and

an upload/download manager module configured to send the program data and a frequency to the application database factory and to receive the one or more policies from the application database factory.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the application database factory is configured to receive the program data from the application server module if the program is not operating in a predetermined manner, determine whether the program was previously analyzed by the application database factory, if the program was not previously analyzed, then determine one or more policies to associate with the program and provide the one or more policies to the application server module, if the program was previously analyzed, then provide the one or more policies that were previously associated with the program data to the application server module.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the network access database comprises hash values.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the network access database comprises one or more categories and one or more policies associated with the program.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the application server module is further configured to analyze the program data for a data characteristic that is indicative of whether the program is operating in the predetermined manner, and to associate one or more indicators with the program.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein analyzing the program data is performed on text strings that are associated with the program.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more indicators includes a category flag.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the application server module uses the one or more indicators to screen the program prior to sending the program data to the application database factory.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the workstation management module comprises an application digest generator configured to determine the program data to associate with the program.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the program data includes a source IP address.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the program data includes a destination IP address.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the program data includes a destination port number.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the application database factory comprises:

an application analyst'"'"'s classification module configured to categorize the program if not previously categorized by the application database factory; and

a master application database configured to store the program and the one or more categories.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the upload/download module is configured to receive the frequency from the application server module to prioritize processing of the program in the application database factory.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a second workstation; and

a second application server module coupled to the second workstation and the application database factory.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the upload/download module is further configured to merge and sort the program data and a second program data received from the second workstation.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the frequency is associated with the program and indicates the frequency at which the program accesses the network.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more policies include allowing the program to access the network based on the one or more policies associated with the program and the user.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more policies include not allowing the program to access the network based on the one or more policies associated with the program and the user.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the protocol is a transport protocol.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the transport protocol is transmission control protocol (TCP).

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the transport protocol is user datagram protocol (UDP).

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the frequency is a request frequency.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the frequency is a frequency count for the program.