Trust evaluation

• US 7,809,821 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2007
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Van Doorn, Leendert P., Bade, Steven A., Kegel, Andrew G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harold; Jefferey F
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHANG, STEPHANIE L
• Application Number:
  US11/913,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006597A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/202, 709/217, 702/182
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold

Abstract

A solution for evaluating trust in a computer infrastructure is provided. In particular, a plurality of computing devices in the computer infrastructure evaluate one or more other computing devices in the computer infrastructure based on a set of device measurements for the other computing device(s) and a set of reference measurements. To this extent, each of the plurality of computing devices also provides a set of device measurements for processing by the other computing device(s) in the computer infrastructure.

Claims

1. A computer infrastructure comprising:

a computing device including;

a system for managing a set of computing devices in the computer infrastructure that evaluate a trustworthiness of one another, the system for managing including;

a system for managing membership in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure and a system for managing a trust level for communications between another computing device in the computer infrastructure and other computing devices;

wherein the system for managing membership in the sub-group of the computer infrastructure includes;

a system for detecting that a threshold number of computing devices has been exceeded for at least one of;

the computer infrastructure or a sub-group of the computer infrastructure; and

a system for dividing the at least one of;

the computer infrastructure or the sub-group of the computer infrastructure into a plurality of sub-groups of computing devices for evaluating trust.

2. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, the computing device further including a system for providing device measurements for the computing device for processing by another computing device in the computer infrastructure.

3. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, the computing device further including a system for evaluating another computing device in the computer infrastructure based on a set of device measurements for the another computing device and a set of reference measurements.

4. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, the system for dividing assigning at least one computing device in the computer infrastructure to a plurality of sub-groups.

5. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the threshold number is selected based on an impact of the monitoring on a performance of a primary function of each computing device.

6. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, the system for managing membership in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure including:

a system for detecting that a number of computing devices in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure has fallen below a threshold number; and

a system for reassigning each computing device in the sub-group to a new sub-group.

7. The computer infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the new sub-group includes at least one computing device that is included in at least one additional sub-group.

8. The computer infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the system for managing a trust level for communications between another computing device in the set of computing devices and other computing devices isolates a particular computing device from communicating with other computing devices in response to a failure of the particular computing device.

9. A computer infrastructure comprising:

a computing device including;

a system for managing a set of computing devices in the computer infrastructure that evaluate a trustworthiness of one another, the system for managing including a system for managing membership in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure;

wherein the system for managing membership in the sub-group of the computer infrastructure includes;

a system for detecting that a threshold number of computing devices has been exceeded for at least one of;

the computer infrastructure or a sub-group of the computer infrastructure; and

a system for dividing the at least one of;

the computer infrastructure or the sub-group of the computer infrastructure into a plurality of sub-groups of computing devices for evaluating trust.

10. The computer infrastructure of claim 9, the system for managing a set of computing devices further including a system for managing a trust level for communications between another computing device in the computer infrastructure and other computing devices.

11. The computer infrastructure of claim 9, the system for dividing assigning at least one computing device in the computer infrastructure to a plurality of sub-groups.

12. The computer infrastructure of claim 9, wherein the threshold number is selected based on an impact of the monitoring on a performance of a primary function of each computing device.

13. The computer infrastructure of claim 9, the system for managing membership in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure including:

a system for detecting that a number of computing devices in a sub-group of the computer infrastructure has fallen below a threshold number; and

a system for reassigning each computing device in the sub-group to a new sub-group.

14. The computer infrastructure of claim 13, wherein the new sub-group includes at least one computing device that is included in at least one additional sub-group.

15. A computer infrastructure comprising:

a computing device including;

a system for managing a set of computing devices in the computer infrastructure that evaluate a trustworthiness of one another, the system for managing including a system for managing a trust level for communications between another computing device in the computer infrastructure and other computing devices, wherein the system for managing the trust level for communications between another computing device in the set of computing devices and other computing devices isolates a particular computing device from communicating with other computing devices in response to a failure of the particular computing device.

16. The computer infrastructure of claim 15, the system for managing a set of computing devices further including a system for enabling a user to modify a set of reference measurements used to determine a corresponding trust level for a computing device.

17. The computer infrastructure of claim 15, the system for managing a set of computing devices further including a system for communicating an updated set of reference measurements to other computing devices in the computer infrastructure.