US6070244A — Computer network security management system

Claim 1

Independent Claim 194 words

A centralized security system for a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems, each subsystem having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the centralized security system comprising: a plurality of collection agents, each agent being operatively coupled with a respective one of said discrete security domains for collecting differently presented security-related data of said security domains; a collection agent abstraction facility coupled to said collection agents and effective for transforming the differently presented security-related data into a common-format security data which has a format common across said security domains; a database for storing said common-format security data from the collection agent abstraction facility, the database being comprised of a standardized, off-the-shelf database software program; a security controlling facility for examining the security data stored in the database, for ensuring that the security related data in the database indicates that the security domains are in compliance with pre-determined security regulations and for issuing security related common-format commands effective for correcting computer security breach conditions; and a security maintenance software facility for receiving the common format commands and translating them into specific commands that are specific to and understandable by the various security domains.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 194 words

A centralized security system for a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems, each subsystem having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the centralized security system comprising: a plurality of collection agents, each agent being operatively coupled with a respective one of said discrete security domains for collecting differently presented security-related data of said security domains; a collection agent abstraction facility coupled to said collection agents and effective for transforming the differently presented security-related data into a common-format security data which has a format common across said security domains; a database for storing said common-format security data from the collection agent abstraction facility, the database being comprised of a standardized, off-the-shelf database software program; a security controlling facility for examining the security data stored in the database, for ensuring that the security related data in the database indicates that the security domains are in compliance with pre-determined security regulations and for issuing security related common-format commands effective for correcting computer security breach conditions; and a security maintenance software facility for receiving the common format commands and translating them into specific commands that are specific to and understandable by the various security domains.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 24 words

The computer security system of claim 1, in which the security controlling facility includes a maintenance agent abstraction facility for producing the common-format commands.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 52 words

The computer security system of claim 2, in which the security maintenance software facility includes a plurality of maintenance agents coupled to the maintenance agent abstraction facility, each maintenance agent being configured to communicate and provide the specific commands to a specific one of said security domains with which it is associated.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 21 words

The computer security system of claim 2, in which the security controlling facility includes means for parsing and validating incoming data.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 27 words

The computer security system of claim 2, in which the security controlling facility includes means for consulting mapping tables which convert incoming data to said common-format commands.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 51 words

The computer security system of claim 1, in which the security controlling facility comprises a compliance facility coupled to and communicating with the database for analyzing the data in the database and for determining that individual ones of the security domains are out of compliance with the security regulations, when warranted.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 30 words

The computer security system of claim 6, further comprising an active agent coupled to the compliance facility for formulating specific corrective actions needed to correct said computer security breach conditions.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 28 words

The computer security system of claim 7, further comprising an alert agent coupled to the database for communicating said computer security breach conditions to personnel responsible for security.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 28 words

The computer security system of claim 8, further including a manual maintenance agent coupled to the security controlling facility for providing manual control over the security controlling facility.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 22 words

The computer security system of claim 9, in which the security manual maintenance agent includes means for conducting searches of user accounts.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 32 words

The computer security system of claim 8, further comprising a query agent coupled to the security controlling facility for enabling personnel to obtain specific information concerning security conditions within the computer network.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 19 words

The computer security system of claim 11, in which the query agent includes means for generating security group reports.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 22 words

The computer security system of claim 11, in which the query agent includes means for generating operating system and security product reports.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 30 words

The computer security system of claim 8, in which the alert agent comprises means for communicating with personnel via communication links selected from the group including telephones, e-mail and pagers.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 18 words

The computer security system of claim 1, wherein the security domains are comprised of different software operating systems.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 21 words

The computer security system of claim 1, further comprising a facility for generating exception reports describing deviations from the security regulations.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 14 words

The computer security system of claim 1, in which the database comprises security-policy data.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 20 words

The computer security system of claim 1, in which the database comprises threshold parameters which define situations triggering alarm conditions.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 33 words

The computer security system of claim 1, in which each one of the security domains associated with an entire network of an organization is connected to a respective one of said collection agents.

Claim 21

Independent Claim 211 words

A method of centrally controlling security in a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems each having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of: separately collecting from each of the security domains security-related data associated with each security domain, wherein each security-related data is uniquely presented; supplying the security-related data collected from the security domains to a collection agent abstraction facility and deploying the collection agent abstraction facility to transform the separately collected security-related data into a common-format security data, said transformation of the separately collected security-related data including the steps of: mapping the data collected from a single security domain to a generic language using a predetermined map for the environment; and sending the mapped data to a database; storing the common-format security data in the database; analyzing the common-format security-related data for discerning in the data out-of-compliance conditions in specific ones of said security domains by comparing the data with predetermined security regulations; issuing common-format security-related commands effective for controlling security at the individual security domains; converting the common-format security-related commands to a plurality of specific security commands which are configured to be understood by corresponding ones of said security domains; and repeating the above-steps for remaining ones of said security domains.

Claim 22

Independent Claim 211 words

A method of centrally controlling security in a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems each having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of: separately collecting from each of the security domains security-related data associated with each security domain, wherein each security-related data is uniquely presented; supplying the security-related data collected from the security domains to a collection agent abstraction facility and deploying the collection agent abstraction facility to transform the separately collected security-related data into a common-format security data, said transformation of the separately collected security-related data including the steps of: mapping the data collected from a single security domain to a generic language using a predetermined map for the environment; and sending the mapped data to a database; storing the common-format security data in the database; analyzing the common-format security-related data for discerning in the data out-of-compliance conditions in specific ones of said security domains by comparing the data with predetermined security regulations; issuing common-format security-related commands effective for controlling security at the individual security domains; converting the common-format security-related commands to a plurality of specific security commands which are configured to be understood by corresponding ones of said security domains; and repeating the above-steps for remaining ones of said security domains.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 20, including converting the common-format security-related commands to at least one specific command which results in iterative execution of a single maintenance agent function.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 110 words

The method of claim 20, in which the out-of-compliance conditions include one or more of the following conditions: a) an unusually large increase in the number of failed access attempts; b) repeated failed attempts from a single user or location; c) attempted modification of predetermined key security regulations; d) minimum password length is less than a predetermined number of characters; e) password life is longer than 90 days; f) more than three failed logins not being disallowed before an account is disabled; g) concurrent logins are allowed; h) account has not been used in 90 days and has not been disabled; and i) account was used after employee termination date.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 20, including storing in the database threshold parameters for triggering alarm conditions which require the alerting of security personnel.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 20, including controlling how often security-related data is collected from each of the security domains.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of claim 20, including providing an operator controlled field which can be used to designate from which one of said security domains security-related data is to be collected.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 20, in which the step of separately collecting the security-related data from the security domains comprises providing a plurality of collection agents, each agent being operatively coupled with a respective one of said discrete security domains for collecting differently presented security-related data of said security domains.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 60 words

The method of claim 20, in which the step of converting the common-format security-related commands to specific security commands comprises using a plurality of maintenance agents coupled to a maintenance agent abstraction facility, wherein each maintenance agent is configured to communicate and provide the specific security commands to a specific one of said security domains with which it is associated.

Claim 30

Independent Claim 181 words

A method of centrally controlling security in a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems each having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of: separately collecting from each of the security domains security-related data associated with each security domain, wherein each security-related data is uniquely presented; supplying the security-related data collected from the security domains to a collection agent abstraction facility and deploying the collection agent abstraction facility to transform the separately collected security-related data into a common-format security data; storing the common-format security data in a database; analyzing the common-format security-related data for discerning in the data out-of-compliance conditions in specific ones of said security domains by comparing the data with predetermined security regulations; issuing common-format security-related commands effective for controlling security at the individual security domains; and converting the common-format security-related commands to a plurality of specific security commands which are configured to be understood by corresponding ones of said security domains, the plurality of specific security commands including a specific command which results in the execution of multiple maintenance agent actions.

Claim 31

Independent Claim 181 words

A method of centrally controlling security in a computer network comprising a plurality of discrete computer subsystems each having a discrete security domain associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of: separately collecting from each of the security domains security-related data associated with each security domain, wherein each security-related data is uniquely presented; supplying the security-related data collected from the security domains to a collection agent abstraction facility and deploying the collection agent abstraction facility to transform the separately collected security-related data into a common-format security data; storing the common-format security data in a database; analyzing the common-format security-related data for discerning in the data out-of-compliance conditions in specific ones of said security domains by comparing the data with predetermined security regulations; issuing common-format security-related commands effective for controlling security at the individual security domains; and converting the common-format security-related commands to a plurality of specific security commands which are configured to be understood by corresponding ones of said security domains, the plurality of specific security commands including a specific command which results in the execution of multiple maintenance agent actions.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 110 words

The method of claim 28, in which the out-of-compliance conditions include one or more of the following conditions: a) an unusually large increase in the number of failed access attempts; b) repeated failed attempts from a single user or location; c) attempted modification of predetermined key security regulations; d) minimum password length is less than a predetermined number of characters; e) password life is longer than 90 days; f) more than three failed logins not being disallowed before an account is disabled; g) concurrent logins are allowed; h) account has not been used in 90 days and has not been disabled; and i) account was used after employee termination date.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 28, including storing in the database threshold parameters for triggering alarm conditions which require the alerting of security personnel.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 28, including controlling how often security-related data is collected from each of the security domains.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of claim 28, including providing an operator controlled field which can be used to designate from which one of said security domains security-related data is to be collected.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 28, in which the step of separately collecting the security-related data from the security domains comprises providing a plurality of collection agents, each agent being operatively coupled with a respective one of said discrete security domains for collecting differently presented security-related data of said security domains.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 60 words

The method of claim 28, in which the step of converting the common-format security-related commands to specific security commands comprises using a plurality of maintenance agents coupled to a maintenance agent abstraction facility, wherein each maintenance agent is configured to communicate and provide the specific security commands to a specific one of said security domains with which it is associated.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2003-05-30	2003-11-29	2004-05-30	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2007-05-30	2007-11-29	2008-05-30	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2011-05-30	2011-11-29	2012-05-30	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Computer network security management system

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