System and method for interfacing with heterogeneous network data gathering tools

• US 8,789,140 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2011
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Musarubra US LLC (Musarubra US SellCo LLC)
• Original Assignee: Preventsys, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Williams, John Leslie, Costello, Brian, Ravenel, John Patrick, Walpole, Thomas Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Kyle, Tamara T
• Application Number:
  US13/312,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20120079106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 726/3
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0218 Distributed architectures, e.g. distributed firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/14 for detecting or protecting against malicious traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A prevention-based network auditing system includes a plurality of heterogeneous information sources gathering information about the network. An audit server invokes the heterogeneous information sources via a uniform communications interface to gather information about the network, and converts the information gathered by the information sources into a normalized data format such as, for example, into XML (Extensible Markup Language). The converted information is then stored in an audit repository for security and regulatory policy assessment, network vulnerability analysis, report generation, and security improvement recommendations.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving network scan results from information sources in heterogeneous formats;

converting the network scan results into structurally normalized scan results using a plurality of first tags and a second tag nested in the first tags, the first tags indicating a test, the second tag indicating a result of the test;

identifying semantically equivalent network scan results in the structurally normalized scan results; and

comparing at least a portion of the semantically equivalent network scan results with a network policy to determine a compliance with the network policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network scan results include a list of wireless access point devices and associated parameters for accessing one or more wireless networks, and a location for each of the wireless access points is determined.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising

generating a remediation task for a violation of the network policy.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising

generating a remediation task for a violation of the network policy, wherein the remediation task identifies the violation by a severity and an address of a host associated with the violation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the semantically equivalent network scan results comprises associating a symbolic reference with at least two of the information sources in a reference map.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the symbolic reference is mapped to corresponding test identifiers produced by the information sources.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the information sources are associated with a plurality of scanners for which meta-information is provided, the meta-information relates to capabilities for each of the scanners and how each of the scanners maps to scanners that can perform similar testing operations, and the converting comprises utilizing a conversion table that maps fields of the heterogeneous formats into fields in the normalized scan results.

7. Logic encoded in 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 network scan results from information sources in heterogeneous formats;

converting the network scan results into structurally normalized scan results using a plurality of first tags and a second tag nested in the first tags, the first tags indicating a test, the second tag indicating a result of the test;

identifying semantically equivalent network scan results in the structurally normalized scan results; and

comparing at least a portion of the semantically equivalent network scan results with a network policy to determine a compliance with the network policy.

8. The encoded logic of claim 7, wherein the network scan results include a list of wireless access point devices and associated parameters for accessing one or more wireless networks, and a location for each of the wireless access points is determined.

9. The encoded logic of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise

generating a remediation task for a violation of the network policy.

10. The encoded logic of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise

generating a remediation task for a violation of the network policy, wherein the remediation task identifies the violation by a severity and an address of a host associated with the violation.

11. The encoded logic of claim 7, wherein the identifying the semantically equivalent network scan results comprises associating a symbolic reference with at least two of the information sources in a reference map.

12. The encoded logic of claim 11, wherein the symbolic reference is mapped to corresponding test identifiers produced by the information sources.

19. The encoded logic of claim 7, wherein the information sources are associated with a plurality of scanners for which meta-information is provided, the meta-information relates to capabilities for each of the scanners and how each of the scanners maps to scanners that can perform similar testing operations, and the converting comprises utilizing a conversion table that maps fields of the heterogeneous formats into fields in the normalized scan results.

13. A system, comprising:

one or more processors operable to execute instructions stored on a memory such that the one or more processors

receive network scan results from information sources in heterogeneous formats;

convert the network scan results into structurally normalized scan results using a plurality of first tags and a second tag nested in the first tags, the first tags indicating a test, the second tag indicating a result of the test;

identify semantically equivalent network scan results in the structurally normalized scan results; and

compare at least a portion of the semantically equivalent network scan results with a network policy to determine a compliance with the network policy.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the network scan results include a list of wireless access point devices and associated parameters for accessing one or more wireless networks, and a location for each of the wireless access points is determined.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are operable to generate a remediation task for a violation of the network policy.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are operable to generate a remediation task for a violation of the network policy, and the remediation task identifies the violation by a severity and an address of a host associated with the violation.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors identify the semantically equivalent network scan results by associating a symbolic reference with at least two of the information sources in a reference map.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the information sources are associated with a plurality of scanners for which meta-information is provided, the meta-information relates to capabilities for each of the scanners and how each of the scanners maps to scanners that can perform similar testing operations, and the one or more processors are operable to utilize a conversion table that maps fields of the heterogeneous formats into fields in the normalized scan results.