Patent ID: 9648039
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. A method for securing a secured area that includes a network connecting a plurality of computers that comprise a plurality of processors, said method comprising: defining a plurality of rules pertaining to said secured area, wherein the plurality of rules are stored on one of said computers; validating one or more source and destination IP address pairs listed in a communications log from internal packet flow data on the network from one or more communication sources inside of the secured area of the network for compliance with said plurality of rules, wherein said plurality of rules includes consideration of the source IP address and defines permissibility of communication from the source IP address to the destination IP address; generating a threat assessment metric based on the permissibility of communication from the source IP address to the destination IP address; comparing the threat assessment metric with a predetermined threshold value to determine whether said given communications source is in compliance with said plurality of rules; and wherein said secured area comprises a plurality of domains and a plurality of networks, said method further comprising defining hierarchical domains on the networks, wherein the network said security rules are hierarchical network security rules, and wherein hierarchical network security rules are associated with hierarchical domains on the networks, and wherein a first domain is defined as a subset of a second domain and wherein associating one or more rules with said second domain automatically associates the one or more rules with said first domain.