Exposure of an apparatus to a technical hazard

• US 9,614,864 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2014
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Nair, Santosh S., Sood, Shikhar, Tenneti, Phani Gautham
• Primary Examiner(s): CHIANG, JASON
• Application Number:
  US14/511,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105455A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for determining exposure of an apparatus to a technical hazard and prioritizing technical hazards. An exemplary system is configured to: determine an impact associated with a technical hazard on the apparatus, the impact being initiated by a second apparatus; determine a probability of occurrence of the technical hazard; and determine the exposure of the apparatus based on the impact and the probability.

Claims

1. A system for determining exposure of an apparatus to a technical hazard, the apparatus comprising:

a memory;

a processor; and

a module stored in the memory, executable by the processor, and configured to;

receive information associated with one or more technical hazards from one or more specialized computer hardware comprising integrated chips operatively connected to the apparatus, wherein the one or more specialized computer hardware is internally attached to the apparatus, wherein being internally attached comprises being attached to an integrated circuit board in the apparatus;

determine an impact associated with the one or more technical hazards on the apparatus, the impact being initiated by a second apparatus, wherein the impact is further based on determining how the one or more technical hazards are triggered, state of technical processes for triggering the one or more technical hazards, how to measure the existence of the one or more technical hazards if they are triggered, a number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time, and measurement of potential loss if the one or more technical hazards are triggered;

determine an access type associated with the second apparatus'"'"'s access to the first apparatus, wherein the access type is associated with at least an authentication level;

determine a probability of occurrence of the technical hazard based on at least the access type and the number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time;

determine the exposure of the apparatus based on the impact and the probability, wherein determining the exposure of the apparatus further comprises determining a relative exposure of each of the one or more technical hazards relative to each other based on at least a complexity level associated with the one or more technical hazards to thereby determine a priority for each of the one or more technical hazards; and

generate a graphical illustration of an exposure priority chart associated with the apparatus, wherein the exposure priority chart is a spider chart that illustrates the impact and probability for each of the technical hazards associated with the apparatus.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more technical hazards is associated with modifying, deleting, or accessing data on the apparatus.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising prioritizing a first technical hazard over a second technical hazard.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more technical hazards comprises at least one of an application hazard, an infrastructure hazard, an insider hazard, an electronic commerce hazard, an unauthorized hazard, or a mobile platform hazard.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the probability is either less than a first threshold, equal to or greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, or equal to or greater than the second threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact is either less than a first threshold, equal to or greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, or equal to or greater than the second threshold.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact is based on a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score associated with the technical hazard.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact is based on an average Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score for a period of time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact is further based on determining a complexity of the one or more technical hazards being greater than a threshold complexity.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact is further based on a geographical location of the apparatus, a type of apparatus, a network location of the apparatus, and a type of data stored by the apparatus.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine whether the exposure is within a first threshold exposure level and a second, higher threshold exposure level.

12. A method for determining exposure of an apparatus to a technical hazard, the method comprising:

receiving, using a computing device processor, information associated with one or more technical hazards from one or more specialized computer hardware comprising integrated chips operatively connected to the apparatus, wherein the one or more specialized computer hardware is internally attached to the apparatus, wherein being internally attached comprises being attached to an integrated circuit board in the apparatus;

determining, using a computing device processor, an impact associated with the one or more technical hazards on the apparatus, the impact being initiated by a second apparatus, wherein the impact is further based on determining how the one or more technical hazards are triggered, state of technical processes for triggering the one or more technical hazards, how to measure the existence of the one or more technical hazards if they are triggered, a number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time, and measurement of potential loss if the one or more technical hazards are triggered;

determining, using a computing device processor, an access type associated with the second apparatus'"'"'s access to the first apparatus, wherein the access type is associated with at least an authentication level;

determining, using a computing device processor, a probability of occurrence of the technical hazard based on at least the access type and the number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time;

determining, using a computing device processor, the exposure of the apparatus based on the impact and the probability, wherein determining the exposure of the apparatus further comprises determining a relative exposure of each of the one or more technical hazards relative to each other based on at least a complexity level associated with the one or more technical hazards to thereby determine a priority for each of the one or more technical hazards; and

generating, using a computing device processor, a graphical illustration of an exposure priority chart associated with the apparatus, wherein the exposure priority chart is a spider chart that illustrates the impact and probability for each of the technical hazards associated with the apparatus.

13. A computer program product for determining exposure of an apparatus to a technical hazard, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of codes for causing a computer to;

receive information associated with one or more technical hazards from one or more specialized computer hardware comprising integrated chips operatively connected to the apparatus, wherein the one or more specialized computer hardware is internally attached to the apparatus, wherein being internally attached comprises being attached to an integrated circuit board in the apparatus;

determine an impact associated with the one or more technical hazards on the apparatus, the impact being initiated by a second apparatus, wherein the impact is further based on determining how the one or more technical hazards are triggered, state of technical processes for triggering the one or more technical hazards, how to measure the existence of the one or more technical hazards if they are triggered, a number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time, and measurement of potential loss if the one or more technical hazards are triggered;

determine an access type associated with the second apparatus'"'"'s access to the first apparatus, wherein the access type is associated with at least an authentication level;

determine a probability of occurrence of the technical hazard based on at least the access type and the number of historical instances of the technical hazard over a period of time;

determine the exposure of the apparatus based on the impact and the probability, wherein determining the exposure of the apparatus further comprises determining a relative exposure of each of the one or more technical hazards relative to each other based on at least a complexity level associated with the one or more technical hazards to thereby determine a priority for each of the one or more technical hazards; and

generate a graphical illustration of an exposure priority chart associated with the apparatus, wherein the exposure priority chart is a spider chart that illustrates the impact and probability for each of the technical hazards associated with the apparatus.