Patent ID: 9654503
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating networks, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: identifying an initial set of recorded packet performance data that describes an instance of an attempt to establish a network connection path both from an original node to a subsequent node in a network and from the subsequent node to the original node; detecting, by a software security system, a network anomaly based on comparison data resulting from a comparison between the initial set of recorded packet performance data and an additional set of recorded packet performance data that describes another instance of the attempt to establish the network connection path both from the original node to the subsequent node and from the subsequent node to the original node such that a network analysis corresponding to the comparison is bidirectional, the comparison data comprising a safety score indicative of a known level of safety and the detecting comprising: calculating a statistical measure of differences between the initial set of recorded packet performance data and the additional set of recorded packet performance data; and comparing the statistical measure of differences to a security threshold to determine that the statistical measure of differences exceeds the security threshold; and performing, by the software security system, and in response to detecting the network anomaly based on the comparison between the sets of packet performance data, a security action to protect the computing device from a potential security threat indicated by the network anomaly, the security action comprising transmitting the comparison data to the computing device from a backend server provided by a security vendor that collects packet performance data from a multitude of client devices and stores the packet performance data within a security database to identify reputations of network devices.