Certification of virtual machine images in cloud computing environments
First Claim
1. A method of certifying a virtual machine image in a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:
- installing an anti-malware in a virtual machine;
using the anti-malware to scan the virtual machine for presence of malware;
finding that the virtual machine is free of malware;
in response to finding that the virtual machine is free of malware, removing the anti-malware from the virtual machine and generating an original fingerprint of the virtual machine;
storing the original fingerprint in the virtual machine;
saving the virtual machine as a virtual machine image after removing the anti-malware from the virtual machine and storing the original fingerprint in the virtual machine; and
listing the virtual machine image in a catalog of a public cloud computing environment.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Virtual machine images in a cloud computing environment may be certified using a validator machine image. The validator machine image is configured to boot a validator virtual machine, which boots a virtual machine off a virtual machine image from among virtual machine images available in the catalog of the cloud computing environment. The validator virtual machine may scan the virtual machine for malware, including computer viruses. A virtual machine image from among the virtual machine images may be packaged to include a certifier agent that verifies the virtual machine image upon execution. Reputation of virtual machine images may be stored in a virtual machine image reputation database and made available by way of a portal.
79 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of certifying a virtual machine image in a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:
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installing an anti-malware in a virtual machine; using the anti-malware to scan the virtual machine for presence of malware; finding that the virtual machine is free of malware; in response to finding that the virtual machine is free of malware, removing the anti-malware from the virtual machine and generating an original fingerprint of the virtual machine; storing the original fingerprint in the virtual machine; saving the virtual machine as a virtual machine image after removing the anti-malware from the virtual machine and storing the original fingerprint in the virtual machine; and listing the virtual machine image in a catalog of a public cloud computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of certifying a virtual machine image in a cloud computing environment, the method comprising:
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booting a validator virtual machine from a validator virtual machine image; the validator virtual machine booting a target virtual machine from a target virtual machine image; the validator virtual machine injecting a security module into the target virtual machine; the security module scanning the target virtual machine for malware; and removing the security module from the target virtual machine after scanning the target virtual machine for malware. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer system comprising:
one or more computers that provide (a) a plurality of virtual machine images available for public access from a catalog of a public cloud computing environment and (b) a validator virtual machine image available for public access from the catalog, the validator virtual machine image being configured to be executed by the one or more computers to boot a validator virtual machine, the validator virtual machine being configured to boot a virtual machine from a virtual machine image in the plurality of virtual machine images, and to inject a security module into the virtual machine, to scan the virtual machine for malware, and to remove the security module from the virtual machine after scanning the virtual machine for malware. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
Specification