System and method for providing data protection workflows in a network environment

• US 8,700,561 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2011
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Ahuja, Ratinder Paul Singh, Jha, Bimalesh, Maini, Nitin, Patel, Sujata, Jain, Ankit R., Hegde, Damodar K., Nanganure, Rajaram V., Pawar, Avinash Vishnu
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Shiow-Jy
• Application Number:
  US13/338,159
• Publication Number:
  US 20130246335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 707/600, 707/603, 707/694, 707/740
• US Class Current: 707/603
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/358 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A method is provided in one example and includes receiving first sets of metadata elements representing an inventory of objects in a data storage location of a network environment and presenting an inventory view of the objects to a user. The inventory view includes a first summary of the inventory objects. The method further includes receiving a request from the user to manipulate the inventory view based on a first selected dimension group and presenting to the user a manipulated inventory view that includes a second summary of a first subset of the inventory objects. In more specific embodiments, the method includes receiving a request from the user to perform a protection task on objects of the first subset and initiating the protection task. The protection task includes one of applying a remediation policy to the objects of the first subset and registering the objects of the first subset.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request from a user for an inventory of objects in a specified data storage location of a network environment;

requesting the inventory of objects;

receiving first sets of metadata elements, each set of metadata elements representing one object in the inventory of objects;

generating a first summary of the inventory of objects, wherein the first summary includes a total count of the inventory of objects, the total count corresponding to a plurality of dimension groups, the dimension groups corresponding to respective dimensions that represent respective types of metadata, wherein the dimensions are in a hierarchical arrangement, and wherein each metadata element of each first set corresponds to one of the dimension groups;

presenting, on a display screen of a computer, an inventory view of the inventory of objects, the inventory view including the first summary of the inventory of objects;

receiving a request from the user to manipulate the inventory view to subdivide the total count into two or more counts, each count based on a different one of a plurality of metadata elements of a first user selected dimension group;

responsive to the request to manipulate the inventory view, generating the two or more counts corresponding respectively to two or more subsets of the inventory of objects, wherein each subset is defined by a hierarchical path in the hierarchical arrangement of dimensions, and wherein each subset includes objects associated with a single metadata element of the plurality of metadata elements of the first user selected dimension group;

presenting, on the display screen, a manipulated inventory view including the two or more counts and the hierarchical path for each corresponding subset;

receiving a request from a user to perform a protection task on objects of a selected subset of the two or more of subsets; and

initiating the protection task, wherein the protection task includes one of a remediation task to remediate each one of the objects of the selected subset and a registration task to register each one of the objects of the selected subset.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data structure to represent the first sets of metadata elements,

wherein the first summary is generated from the first OLAP data structure, the first summary including the total count and a total size of the inventory objects.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data structure to represent the first sets of metadata elements,

wherein the second summary is generated from the first OLAP data structure, the second summary including the two or more counts and two or more sizes of objects corresponding to the respective two or more subsets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the types of metadata include one or more of devices, content repositories, shares, file types, file sizes, and owners.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the protection task includes the remediation task, the initiating includes:

communicating a remediation task request and parameters of the remediation task to a discover system, wherein the remediation task request includes a remediation policy to be applied to each one of the objects of the selected subset, wherein the parameters include an indication of one or more content repositories where the objects of the selected subset are located, and the single metadata element associated with the objects of the selected subset.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more content repositories are crawled to identify objects according to the parameters.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the remediation task includes one of deleting, encrypting, quarantining, moving, blocking executions of, and adding access requirements to the objects of the selected subset.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving the request to perform the protection task includes receiving a refinement of the selected subset, wherein the refinement includes at least one metadata element being selected or deselected from the first user selected dimension group.

9. One or more non-transitory media that includes code for execution and when executed by one or more processors is operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from a user for an inventory of objects a specified data storage location of a network environment;

requesting the inventory of objects;

receiving first sets of metadata elements, each set of metadata elements representing one object in the inventory of objects;

generating a first summary of the inventory of objects, wherein the first summary includes a total count of the inventory of objects, the total count corresponding to a plurality of dimension groups, the dimension groups corresponding to respective dimensions that represent respective types of metadata, wherein the dimensions are in a hierarchical arrangement, and wherein each metadata element of each first set corresponds to one of the dimension groups;

presenting, on a display screen of a computer, an inventory view of the inventory of objects, the inventory view including the first summary of the inventory of objects;

receiving a request from the user to manipulate the inventory view to subdivide the total count into two or more counts, each count based on a different one of a plurality of metadata elements of a first user selected dimension group;

responsive to the request to manipulate the inventory view, generating the two or more counts corresponding respectively to two or more subsets of the inventory of objects, wherein each subset is defined by a hierarchical path in the hierarchical arrangement of dimensions, and wherein each subset includes objects associated with a single metadata element of the plurality of metadata elements of the first user selected dimension group;

presenting, on the display screen, a manipulated inventory view including the two or more counts and the hierarchical path for each corresponding subset;

receiving a request from a user to perform a protection task on objects of a selected subset of the two or more of subsets; and

initiating the protection task, wherein the protection task includes one of a remediation task to remediate each one of the objects of the selected subset and a registration task to register each one of the objects of the selected subset.

10. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 9, wherein, when the protection task includes the remediation task, the initiating includes:

communicating a remediation task request and parameters of the remediation task to a discover system, wherein the remediation task request includes a remediation policy to be applied to each one of the objects of the selected subset, wherein the parameters include an indication of one or more shares of one or more content repositories where the objects of the selected subset are located, and the single metadata element associated with the objects of the selected subset.

11. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 10, wherein the one or more shares of the one or more content repositories are crawled to identify objects according to the parameters.

12. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 10, wherein the remediation task includes one of deleting, encrypting, quarantining, moving, blocking executions of, and adding access requirements to the objects of the selected subset.

13. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 10, wherein the receiving the request to perform the protection task includes receiving a refinement of the selected subset, wherein the refinement includes at least one metadata element being selected or deselected from the first user selected dimension group.

14. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 9, wherein the code, when executed by the one or more processors, is operable to perform further operations comprising:

creating a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data structure to represent the first sets of metadata elements,

wherein the first summary is generated from the first OLAP data structure, the first summary including the total count and a total size of the inventory objects.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory element configured to store data; and

one or more processors operable to execute instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured to;

receive a request from a user for an inventory of objects a specified data storage location of a network environment;

request the inventory of objects;

receive first sets of metadata elements, each set of metadata elements representing one object in the inventory of objects in the specified data storage location;

generate a first summary of the inventory of objects, wherein the first summary includes a total count of the inventory of objects, the total count corresponding to a plurality of dimension groups, the dimension groups corresponding to respective dimensions that represent respective types of metadata, wherein the dimensions are in a hierarchical arrangement, and wherein each metadata element of each first set corresponds to one of the dimension groups;

present, on a display screen of a computer, an inventory view of the inventory of objects, the inventory view including the first summary of the inventory of objects;

receive a request from the user to manipulate the inventory view to subdivide the total count into two or more counts, each count based on a different one of a plurality of metadata elements of a first user selected dimension group;

responsive to the request to manipulate the inventory view, generate the two or more counts corresponding respectively to two or more subsets of the inventory of objects, wherein each subset is defined by a hierarchical path in the hierarchical arrangement of dimensions, and wherein each subset includes objects associated with a single metadata element of the plurality of metadata elements of the first user selected dimension group;

present, on the display screen, a manipulated inventory view including the two or more counts and the hierarchical path for each corresponding subset;

receive a request from a user to perform a protection task on objects of a selected subset of the two or more of subsets; and

initiate the protection task, wherein the protection task includes one of a remediation task to remediate each one of the objects of the selected subset and a registration task to register each one of the objects of the selected subset.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein, when the protection task includes the remediation task, the initiating includes:

communicating a remediation task request and parameters of the remediation task to a discover system, wherein the remediation task request includes a remediation policy to be applied to each one of the objects of the selected subset, wherein the parameters include an indication of one or more content repositories where the objects of the selected subset are located, and the single metadata element associated with the objects of the selected subset.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more content repositories are crawled to identify objects according to the parameters.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the remediation task includes one of deleting, encrypting, quarantining, moving, blocking executions of, and adding access requirements to the objects of the selected subset.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receiving the request to perform the protection task includes receiving a refinement of the selected subset, wherein the refinement includes at least one metadata element being selected or deselected from the first user selected dimension group.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is further configured to:

creating a first Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data structure to represent the first sets of metadata elements,

wherein the second summary is generated from the first OLAP data structure, the second summary including the two or more counts and two or more sizes of objects corresponding respectively to the two or more subsets.