Abstract:
To answer the security needs of the market, a preferred embodiment was developed. The preferred embodiment provides real-time network security vulnerability assessment tests, possibly complete with recommended security solutions. External vulnerability assessment tests may emulate hacker methodology in a safe way and enable study of a network for security openings, thereby gaining a true view of risk level without affecting customer operations. Because this assessment may be performed over the Internet, both domestic and worldwide corporations benefit. The preferred embodiment&#39;s physical subsystems combine to form a scalable holistic system that may be able to conduct tests for thousands of customers any place in the world. The security skills of experts may be embedded into the preferred embodiment systems and automated the test process to enable the security vulnerability test to be conducted on a continuous basis for multiple customers at the same time. The preferred embodiment can reduce the work time required for security practices of companies from three weeks to less than a day, as well as significantly increase their capacity. Component subsystems typically include a Database, Command Engine, Gateway, multiple Testers, Report Generator, and an RMCT.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present application relates to a system and method for assessing vulnerability of networks or systems to cyber attack.  
         DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
         [0002]    As the Internet emerges as an increasingly important medium for conducting commerce, corporate businesses may be being introduced to new levels of opportunity, prosperity . . . and risk. To take full advantage of the opportunities that electronic commerce has to offer, corporations may be increasingly relying on the Internet, Intranets and Extranets to maximize their capabilities. The Internet has become a driving force creating new opportunities for growth through new products and services, enabling greater speed to penetrate global markets, and increasing productivity to facilitate competition. However, embracing the Internet also means undergoing a fundamental shift from an environment where systems and networks may be closed and protected to an environment that may be open, accessible and by its very nature, at risk. “The Internet is assumed to be unsecured; the people using the Internet are assumed to be untrustworthy.”— Information Security Management Handbook  4 th    Edition    
           [0003]    The risks come from 30,000 hacker sites that teach any site visitors how to penetrate systems and freely share tools and expertise with anyone who may be interested. The tools that may be freely available on these sites may be software-packaged electronic attacks that take only minutes to download and require no special knowledge to use, but give the user the ability to attack networks and computers anywhere in the world. In fact, International Data Corporation has estimated that more than 100 million people have the skills to conduct cyber-attacks. Security experts realize that almost every individual online may be now a potential attacker. Currently, people using the tools tend to be individuals, corporations and governments that may be using the information provided to steal corporate assets and information, to damage systems or to plant software inside systems or networks.  
           [0004]    In addition to the growth of the number of people who can break in, there may be an ongoing explosion in the number of ways to break in. In the year 2000, 1090 new security vulnerabilities were discovered by hackers and security experts and posted on the Internet for anyone to use (CERT statistics). Every vulnerability may be a potential way to bypass the security of a particular type of system. Vulnerabilities were discovered for a broad range of systems; and the more popular a system or computer, the more vulnerabilities were found. For example, installing some Microsoft products will actually install many features and functionalities that are not necessarily intended by the computer user, such as a web server, an e-mail server, indexing services, etc. A default install of Microsoft ISS4 would contain over 230 different vulnerabilities.  
           [0005]    The pace of discovery in 2000, at an average of more than two new vulnerabilities per day, led to 100% growth in the number of new vulnerabilities from 1999. These factors have driven computer break-ins to become a daily news story and have created corporate losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  
           [0006]    From a testing perspective, vulnerabilities can only be found in devices that may be known to exist. Therefore, the ability to see all of the networks and systems that may be reachable from the Internet may be paramount to accurate security testing.  
           [0007]    In response to the increased need for security, corporations have installed Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Firewalls to protect their systems. These security devices attempt to prevent access by potential intruders. A side effect of these devices may be to also block vulnerability assessment software scanners, making them unreliable to the corporations who may be most concerned about security.  
           [0008]    Blocking by security devices affects software scanners (and all vulnerability assessments that come from a single location) in two ways. First, all computers may not be identified by the scanner. As only computers that may be found may be analyzed for vulnerabilities, not all of the access points of the network may be checked for security holes. Secondly, the security device may block access in mid-process of analyzing a computer for vulnerabilities. This may result in only partial discovery of security holes. An administrator may correct all the reported vulnerabilities and believe that the computer may be secure, when there remain additional problems that were unreported. Both of these scenarios result in misleading information that may actually increase the risk of corporations.  
           [0009]    There may be alternatives around the problem of blocking by security devices, but they may be not ideal. The company performing the vulnerability assessment can coordinate with the corporation being tested. A door may need to be opened in the firewall to allow the testing to occur without interference. This situation may be less than ideal from a network administrator&#39;s standpoint as it creates a security weakness and consumes valuable time from the administrator. Another option may be to perform the vulnerability assessment on-site from inside the network. Internal vulnerability assessments may not be affected by the security devices. Internal assessments, however, do not indicate which devices may be accessible from the Internet and are also limited to the capabilities of the software.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    To answer the security needs of the market, a preferred embodiment was developed. The preferred embodiment provides real-time network security vulnerability assessment tests, possibly complete with recommended security solutions. External vulnerability assessment tests may emulate hacker methodology in a safe way and enable study of a network for security openings, thereby gaining a true view of risk level without affecting customer operations. This assessment may be performed over the Internet for domestic and worldwide corporations.  
           [0011]    The preferred embodiment&#39;s physical subsystems combine to form a scalable holistic system that may be able to conduct tests for thousands of customers any place in the world. The security skills of experts may be embedded into the preferred embodiment systems and incorporated into the test process to enable the security vulnerability test to be conducted on a continuous basis for multiple customers at the same time. The preferred embodiment can reduce the work time required for security practices of companies from three weeks to less than a day, as well as significantly increase their capacity. This may expand the market for network security testing by allowing small and mid-size companies to be able to afford proactive, continuous electronic risk management.  
           [0012]    The preferred embodiment includes a Test Center and one or more Testers. The functionality of the Test Center may be divided into several subsystem components, possibly including a Database, a Command Engine, a Gateway, a Report Generator, an Early Warning Generator, and a Repository Master Copy Tester.  
           [0013]    The Database warehouses raw information gathered from the customers systems and networks. The raw information may be refined for the Report Generator to produce different security reports for the customers. Periodically, for example, monthly, information may be collected on the customers for risk management and trending analyses. The reports may be provided in hard copy, encrypted email, or HTML on a CD. The Database interfaces with the Command Engine, the Report Generator and the Early Warning Generator subsystems. Additional functions of the Database and other preferred embodiment subsystem modules may be described in more detail subsequently, herein.  
           [0014]    The Command Engine can orchestrate hundreds of thousands of “basic tests” into a security vulnerability attack simulation and iteratively test the customer systems based on information collected. Every basic test may be an autonomous entity that may be responsible for only one piece of the entire test conducted by multiple Testers in possibly multiple waves and orchestrated by the Command Engine. Mimicking hacker and security expert thought processes, the attack simulation may be modified automatically based on security obstacles discovered and the type of information collected from the customer&#39;s system and networks. Modifications to the testing occur real-time during the test and adjustments may be made to basic tests in response to the new information about the environment. In addition to using the collected data to modify the attack/test strategy, the Command Engine stores the raw test results in the Database for future use. The Command Engine interfaces with the Database and the Gateway.  
           [0015]    The Gateway is the “traffic director” that passes test instructions from the Command Engine to the Testers. The Gateway receives from the Command Engine detailed instructions about the different basic tests that need to be conducted at any given time, and it passes the instructions to one or more Testers, in possibly different geographical locations, to be executed. The Gateway may be a single and limited point of interface from the Internet to the Test Center, with a straightforward design that enables it to secure the Test Center from the rest of the Internet. All information collected from the Testers by the Gateway may be passed to the Command Engine.  
           [0016]    The Testers may reside on the Internet, in a Web-hosted environment, and may be distributed geographically anyplace in the world. The entire test may be split up into tiny pieces, and it can also originate basic tests from multiple points and therefore be harder to detect and more realistic. The Testers house the arsenals of tools that can be used to conduct hundreds of thousands of hacker and security tests. The Tester may receive from the Gateway, via the Internet, basic test instructions that may be encrypted. The instructions inform the Tester which test to run, how to run it, what to collect from the customer system, etc. Every basic test may be an autonomous entity that may be responsible for only one piece of the entire test that may be conducted by multiple Testers in multiple waves from multiple locations. Each Tester can have many basic tests in operation simultaneously. The information collected by each test about the customer systems may be sent to the Gateway and from there to the Database to contribute to creation of a customer&#39;s system network configuration.  
           [0017]    The Report Generator can use the detailed information collected about a customer&#39;s systems to generate reports about the customer&#39;s system profile, Internet Address Utilization, publicly offered (open) services (web, mail, ftp, etc), version information of installed services and operating systems, detailed security vulnerabilities, Network Topology Mapping, inventory of Firewall/Filtering Rule sets, publicly available company information (usernames, email addresses, computer names), etc. The types of reports may be varied to reflect the particular security services purchased by the customer. The report may be created based on the type of information the customer orders and can be delivered by the appropriate method and at the frequency requested.  
           [0018]    New vulnerabilities may be announced on a daily basis. So many, in fact, it may be very difficult for the typical network administrator to keep abreast of relevant security news. Bugtraq, a popular mailing list for announcements, has often received over 350 messages a day. Thus, a network administrator using that resource, for example, may need to review a tremendous number of such messages in order to uncover two or three pertinent warnings relevant to his network. Then each machine on his network may need to be investigated in order to determine which may be affected or threatened. After the fix or patch may be installed, each machine may need to be re-examined in order to insure that the vulnerability may be truly fixed. This process may need to be repeated for each mailing list or resource similar to Bugtraq that the administrator may subscribe to.  
           [0019]    When a new security vulnerability may be announced on a resource like Bugtraq, the information may be added to the Vulnerability Library. Each vulnerability may be known to affect specific types of systems or specific versions of applications. The Vulnerability Library enables each vulnerability to be classified and cataloged. Entries in the Vulnerability Library might include, for example, vulnerability designation, vendor, product, version of product, protocol, vulnerable port, etc. Classification includes designating the severity of the vulnerability, while cataloging includes relating the vulnerability to the affected system(s) and/or application(s). The configuration of the new vulnerability may be compared to the customer&#39;s system network configuration compiled in the last test for the customer. If the new vulnerability is found to affect the customer systems or networks then a possibly detailed alert may be sent to the customer. The alert indicates which new vulnerability threatens the customer&#39;s network, possibly indicating specifically which machines may be affected and what to do in order to correct the problem. Then, depending on the customer profile, after corrective measures are taken, the administrator can immediately use the system to verify the corrective measures in place or effectiveness of the corrective measures may be verified with the next scheduled security assessment.  
           [0020]    Only customers affected by the new security vulnerabilities may receive the alerts. The Early Warning Generator system filters the overload of information to provide accurate, relevant information to network administrators. Additionally, the known configuration of the customer may be updated every time a security vulnerability assessment may be performed, making it more likely that the alerts remain as accurate and relevant as possible.  
           [0021]    The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0022]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative sample embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 1 depicts a diagram of an overview of a network vulnerability assessment system, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a Database logical structure, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a Command Engine, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of a Gateway, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of a Tester structure, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of a Report Generator, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of a Early Warning Generator, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 8 depicts a diagram of an overview of a network vulnerability assessment system adapted to update tools using a Repository Master Copy Tester (RMCT), in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 9 depicts a diagram of an overview of an internationally disposed network vulnerability assessment system adapted to update tools using a RMCT, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 10 depicts a diagram of a distributed test, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 11 depicts a diagram of a Frontal Assault test, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 12 depicts a diagram of a Guerrilla Warfare test, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 13 depicts a diagram of a Winds of Time test, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 14 depicts a flowchart illustrating dynamic logic in testing, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 15 depicts a flowchart illustrating one type of PRIOR ART logic in testing, in accordance with one embodiment of the PRIOR ART.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 16 a  depicts a diagram illustrating results from one method of PRIOR ART testing on a high security network, in accordance with one embodiment of the PRIOR ART.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 16 b  depicts a diagram illustrating results from using a preferred embodiment on a high security network, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 17 depicts a diagram of an alternative preferred embodiment in which the functionalities of the database and command engine are performed by the same machine, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 18 depicts a diagram of an alternative preferred embodiment in which requests for testing pass through third party portals, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 19 depicts a diagram of a geographic overview of a network vulnerability assessment system testing target system with tests originating from different geographic locations in North America, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 20 depicts a diagram of a geographic overview of a network vulnerability assessment system testing target system with tests originating from different geographic locations world-wide, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 21 depicts a diagram of a logical conception of the relationship between a hacker tool and an application processing interface (API) wrapper, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 22 depicts a flow chart of information within a database component of a network vulnerability assessment system, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 23 depicts a flow chart of the testing process of a network vulnerability assessment system, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0047]    The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to the presently preferred embodiment (by way of example, and not of limitation). Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers are used to designate like elements throughout the various views, several embodiments of the present invention are further described. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instances the drawings have been exaggerated or simplified for illustrative purposes only. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the many possible applications and variations of the present invention based on the following examples of possible embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0048]    Database Subsystem Functionality  
         [0049]    The Database  114  has multiple software modules and storage facilities  200  for performing different functions. The Database warehouses the raw data  214  collected by the Testers&#39;  502  tests  516  from customers systems and networks  1002  and that data may be used by the Report Generator  112  to produce different security reports  2230  for the customers. The raw data  214  contained in the Database  114  can be migrated to any data format desired, for example, by using ODBC to migrate to Oracle or Sybase. The type of data might include, for example, IP addresses, components, functions, etc. The raw data  214  may typically be fragmented and may not be easily understood until decoded by the Report Generator  110 .  
         [0050]    The brand of database  114  is unimportant and the entire schema was designed to port to any database. The preferred embodiment uses Microsoft SQL server, because of availability of the software and experience in developing in SQL Server. Logical overview  200  shows a logical view of Database  114 .  
         [0051]    Job Scheduling  
         [0052]    The job scheduling module  202  can initiate customer jobs at any time. It uses the customer profile  204  information to tell the Command Engine  116  what services the customer should receive, for example, due to having been purchased, so that the Command Engine  116  can conduct the appropriate range of tests  516 .  
         [0053]    Customer Profile  
         [0054]    Every customer has a customer profile  204  that may include description of the services the customer will be provided, the range of IP addresses the customer&#39;s network  1002  spans, who should receive the monthly reports, company mailing address, etc. The customer profile  204  may be used by the Command Engine  114  to conduct an appropriate set of tests  516  on the customer&#39;s systems  1002 . The customer profile  204  may be also used by the Report Generator  110  to generate appropriate reports  2230  and send them to the appropriate destination. Customer Profile information includes that information discussed in this specification which would typically be provided by the Customer, such as IP addresses, services to be provided, etc. In contrast, Customer Network Profile information includes that information which is the result of testing.  
         [0055]    Vulnerability Library  
         [0056]    The Vulnerability Library  206  catalogs all the vulnerabilities that the preferred embodiment tests for. This library  206  may be used by the Report Generator  110  to tell the customers what security vulnerabilities they have. The data associated with each vulnerability may also indicate the classification of the vulnerability as to its severity. Severity has several aspects, for example, risk of the vulnerability being exploited may be high, medium, or low; skill level to exploit the vulnerability may be high, medium, or low; and the cause of the vulnerability may be vendor (for example, bugs), misconfiguration, or an inherently dangerous service.  
         [0057]    Performance Metrics  
         [0058]    Different types of performance metrics  208  may be stored for each test. Reasons that the system stores performance metrics  208  include, for example, in order to be able to plan for future scaling of the system and to track the durations and efficiency levels of the tests  516 . Performance metrics  208  allow determination, for example, of when system capacity can be expected to be reached and when more Testers  502  can be expected to be needed added to Tester array  103  to maintain adequate performance capacity.  
         [0059]    The ability to perform performance metrics  208  comes from two places: (1) utilizing standard network utilities and methodologies, and (2) analysis of database  114  information. More sources of the ability to perform performance metrics  208  will become available over time. Current performance metrics  208  include, job completion timing, which is (1) time to complete an overall assessment (can be compared with type of assessment as well as size of job); (2) time to complete each Tool Suite  9  e.g., HTTP Suite  2318 ); (3) time to complete each wave of tests  516 ; and (3) time to complete each test  516 . Also, assessment time per IP address/active nodes assessment time per type of service active on the machine. Tester  502  performance metrics  208  include, for example, resources available/used, memory, disk space, and processor. Gateway  118  performances metrics  208  include, for example, resources available/used, memory, disk space, and processor. Other performance metrics  208  include, for example, communication time between Tester  502  and Gateway  118  (latency), communication time between Gateway  118  and Tester  502  (network paths are generally different), and bandwidth available between Tester  502  and Gateway  118 . Future performance metrics might include, Tester  502  usage, by operating system, by Network (Sprint, MCI, etc.), IP address on each Tester  502 ; test  516  effectiveness by operating system, by Network, by Tester  502 ; and Gateway  118 /Distribution of tests across Testers  103 .  
         [0060]    Report Elements  
         [0061]    Report Elements  210  are used to build reports  2230 . The Report Elements  210  area of the Database  114  can hold these report elements  210  at their smallest resolution. The Report Generator  1110  subsystem accesses the report elements  210  to create a customer vulnerability assessment report  2230 . The Report Generator  1110  reads the test results of a vulnerability assessment from the Database  114  and can use the test results to organize the Report Elements  210  into a full, customized report  2230  for the customer. All of the raw data  214  as well as the refined data  216  about a customer network  1002  may be stored in the Database  114  in a normalized secure form which is fragmented and has no meaning until the Report Generator  110  decodes the data and attaches a Report Element  210  to each piece of information. The Report Elements  210  enable the reports  2230  to contain meaningful, de-normalized information and allow the Database  114  to maintain the original data in a manageable format.  
         [0062]    Some Report Elements  210  may be the same as, directly based on, or indirectly based on information from Vulnerability Library  206 .  
         [0063]    The Report Elements  210  typically compose a very large set of text records which may make up all possible text passages that may eventually appear in a report  2230 .  
         [0064]    Customer&#39;s Network Profile, Raw Data, and Refined Data  
         [0065]    All data collected by the basic tests may be stored in their raw form  214  on an ongoing basis. The data may be used by the Report Generator  110  and by data mining tools. The Report Generator  110  can use this data to provide historical security trending, detailed analysis and current vulnerability assessment reports  2230 . Data mining may provide security trend analysis across varying network sizes and industries. Other data mining opportunities may present themselves as the number of customers grows. The Early Warning Generator  112  can reference the most recent information about a customer network  1002  in order to alert only threatened customers about the newest relevant security vulnerabilities found.  
         [0066]    Report  2230  metrics can also be used to classify test results for different market segments and industries to be able to calcify risk boundaries. For example, this would enable an insurer to change insurance rates based on risk metrics indicators.  
         [0067]    In addition, the raw information  214  can be used by experienced security consultants to give themselves the same intimate familiarity with the customer&#39;s network  1002  that they would normally gain during a manual test  516  but without actually having to perform the tests  516  themselves. This can allow security personnel to leverage their time more efficiently while maintaining quality relationships with customers.  
         [0068]    Command Engine Subsystem Functionality  
         [0069]    Figuratively, the Command Engine  116  is the “brain” that orchestrates all of the “basic tests”  516  into the security vulnerability attack simulation used to test the security of customer systems and networks  1002 . While the Command Engine  116  essentially mimics hackers, the tests  516  themselves should be harmless to the customer. Each basic test  516  may be a minute piece of the entire test that can be launched independently of any other basic test  516 . The attack simulation may be conducted in waves, with each wave of basic tests  516  gathering increasingly fine-grained information. The entire test may be customized to each customer&#39;s particular system  1002  through automatic modifications to the waves of basic tests  516 . These modifications occur in real-time during the actual test in response to information collected from the customer&#39;s systems and networks  1002 . For example, the information may include security obstacles and system environment information. The Command Engine  116  stores the raw test results  214  in the Database  114  for future use as well as uses the collected data to modify the attack/test strategy. This test process may be iterative until all relevant customer data can be collected. Note that there is no reason why the functions of the Command Engine  116  could not be performed by and incorporated into the Database  114  in an alternative embodiment. Such a device, combining Database  114  and Command Engine  116  functions might be called a Command Database  1702 .  
         [0070]    Check Schedule  
         [0071]    The Check Schedule module  302  polls the Job Scheduling module  202  to determine whether a new test  516  needs to be conducted. The Check Schedule module  302  then passes the customer profile information  204  for the new tests  516  to the Test Logic module  304 .  
         [0072]    Test Logic  
         [0073]    The following discussion describes a multiple wave entire test. The Test Logic module  304  receives the customer profile information  204  from the Check Schedule module  302 . Based on the customer profile  204 , the Test Logic module  304  determines which basic tests  516  need to be launched in the first wave of testing and from which Testers  502  the basic tests  516  should come. The Test Logic module  304  uses the customer profile  204  to assemble a list of specific tests  516 ; the Test Logic module  304  uses the Resource Management module  308 , which tracks the availability of resources, to assign the tests to specific Testers  502 . As the basic tests  516  are determined, they may be passed with instructions to the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  where all of the tool  514  details and instructions may be combined. Each sequence of basic test instructions proceeds from the Tool Sequencer  312  to the Queue  310  as an instruction for a specific Tester  502  to run a specific test  516 . There is no reason why the Resource Management module  308  could not be part of Gateway  118  because such an alternative would be an example of the many alternatives that would not vary substantially from what has been described. Similarly, throughout this specification, descriptions of functionalities being in certain physical and/or logical orientations (e.g., being on certain machines, etc.), should not be considered as limitations, but rather as alternatives, to the extent that other alternatives of physical and/or logical orientations would not cause inoperability.  
         [0074]    As the results of the basic tests  516  return  306 , the Test Logic module  304  analyzes the information and, based on the information discovered, determines which basic tests  516  should be performed in the next wave of basic tests  516 . Again, once the appropriate tests  516  have been determined, they may be sent to the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  where they enter the testing cycle.  
         [0075]    Each wave of basic tests  516  becomes increasingly specific and fine-grained as more may be learned about the environment  1002  being tested. This dynamic iterative process repeats and adapts itself to the customer&#39;s security obstacles, system configuration and size. The process ends when all relevant information has been collected about the customer system  1002 .  
         [0076]    Tool Management  
         [0077]    The Tool Management module  314  manages all relevant information about the tools  514 , possibly including classification  316 , current release version, operating system dependencies, specific location  318  inside the Testers  502 , test variations of tools, and all parameters  320  associated with the test. Because there may be thousands of permutations of testing available for each tool  514 , the Test Logic module and the Initiation Sequencer  312  are data driven processes. The Tool Management  314 , in conjunction with the Test Logic module  304 , and the Initiation Sequencer  312  supplies the necessary detailed instructions to perform the basic tests  516 . Tools  514  may be classified according to operating system or any other criterion or criteria. If a vulnerability becomes apparent for which no tool  514  currently exists, then a new tool  514  can be written in any language and for any operating system that will test for that vulnerability. The new tool  514  might then be referred to as a proprietary tool.  
         [0078]    Tool Initiation Sequencer  
         [0079]    The Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  works in conjunction with the Test Logic module  304  and the Tool Management module  314 . It receives each sequence of instructions to run a specific basic test  516  from the Test Logic module  304 . This information may be then used to access the Tool Management module  314  where additional information, such as tool location  318  and necessary parameters  320 , may be gathered. The Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  then packages all relevant information in a standardized format. The formatted relevant information includes the detailed instructions that may be put in the Queue  310  to be polled by the Gateway  118  or pushed to the Gateway  118 .  
         [0080]    Queue of Test Tools  
         [0081]    The Queue  310  is a mechanism that allows the Gateway  118  to poll for pending instructions to pass on to the Testers  502 . The instructions for each basic test  516  may be stored as a separate order, and instructions for basic tests  516  belonging to multiple customer tests may be intermingled in the Queue  310  freely.  
         [0082]    Tools Test Output  
         [0083]    The results of each basic test  516  are returned from the Testers  502  to the Command Engine&#39;s  116  Tool/Test Output module  306 . This module  306  transfers the test results to two locations. The information may be delivered to the Database  114  for future report generation use and recycled through the Test Logic module  304  in order to be available to adapt a subsequent wave of tests  516 .  
         [0084]    Resource Management  
         [0085]    The Resource Management module  308  manages Tester  502  availability, Internet route availability, basic test  516  tracking, and multiple job tracking for entire tests being performed for multiple customer networks  1002  simultaneously. Tracking the availability of Testers  502  and Internet routes enables the testing to be performed using the most efficient means. Basic test  516  and job test tracking may be used to monitor for load on Testers  502  as well as the timeliness of overall jobs. The information used to manage resources may be gained from the Gateway  118  and from the Testers  502 , via the Gateway  118 .  
         [0086]    Resource management information may be provided to the Test Logic module  304  and the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312 . If a Tester  502  becomes unavailable, this information may be taken into account and the Tester  502  is not used until it becomes available again. The same may be true for periods of Internet route unavailability. Current basic tests  516  that relied on the unavailable resources would be re-assigned, and new basic tests  516  would not be assigned to resources that are unavailable.  
         [0087]    The Gateway Subsystem Functionality  
         [0088]    Functionally, the Gateway  118  may be partly characterized as the “traffic director” of the preferred embodiment. While the Command Engine  116  acts in part as the “brain” that coordinates the use of multiple tests  516  over multiple Testers  502 , it is the Gateway  118  that interprets the instructions and communicates the directions (instructions) to all of the Testers  502 . The Gateway  118  receives from the Command Engine  116  detailed instructions about basic tests  516  that need to be conducted at any given time, and it passes the instructions to appropriate Testers  502 , in appropriate geographical locations, to be executed. The Gateway  118  may be a single and limited point of interface from the Internet to the Test Center  102 , with a straightforward design that enables it to secure the Test Center  102  from the rest of the Internet. All information collected from the Testers  502  by the Gateway  118  may be passed to the Command Engine  116 .  
         [0089]    The Gateway  118  receives basic test  516  instructions from the Command Engine Queue  310  and sends these instructions to the appropriate Testers  502 . The instruction sequence consists of two parts. The first part contains instructions to the Gateway  118  indicating which Tester  502  the Gateway  118  should communicate with. The second part of the instructions is relevant to the Tester  502 , and it is the second part of these instructions that are sent to the appropriate Tester  502 .  
         [0090]    Prior to delivering the instructions to the Tester  502 , the Gateway  118  verifies the availability of the Tester  502  and encrypts  406  the instruction transmission. In FIG. 4, encryption  406  uses key management  408  to achieve encryption  410 , but other encryption techniques would not change the spirit of the embodiment. If communication cannot be established with the Tester  502 , then the Gateway  118  runs network diagnostics to determine whether communication can be established. If communication can be established  404 , then the process continues, otherwise, the Gateway  118  sends a message to the Command Engine Resource Management  308  that the Tester  502  is “unavailable”. If the Gateway  118  is able to send  412  test instructions to the Tester  502 , it does so. After the Tester  502  runs its basic test  516 , it sends to the Gateway  118  the results  414  of the basic test  516  from the Tester  502  and relays the information  414  back to the Command Engine  116 . The Gateway  118 , as “traffic director”, enables a set of tests  516  to be conducted by multiple Testers  502  and multiple tests  516  to be run by one Tester  502  all at the same time. This type of security vulnerability assessment is typically hard to detect, appears realistic to the security system, and may reduce the likelihood of the customer security system discovering that it is being penetrated.  
         [0091]    An alternative to the test instruction push paradigm that has been described thus far is a test instruction pull paradigm. The pull approach is useful where the customer simply refuses to lower an unassailable defense. The Tester  502  would be placed within the customer&#39;s system  1002 , beyond the unassailable defense, and would conduct its tests from that position. Rather than the sending of instructions from the Gateway  118  to the Tester  502  being initiated by the Gateway  118 , the Tester  502  would repeatedly poll the Gateway  118  for instructions. If the Gateway  118  had instructions in its queue  402  ready for that Tester  502 , then those instructions would be transmitted responsively to the poll.  
         [0092]    The Tester Subsystem Functionality  
         [0093]    Depicted in overview  500 , FIG. 5, the Testers  502  may reside on the Internet, in a Web-hosted environment, or on customers&#39; networks  1002 , and may be distributed geographically around the world. Not only may the entire test be split up into tiny pieces, but it may also originate each piece from an independent point and is therefore harder to detect and more realistic. Even entire tests conducted monthly on the same customer may come from different Testers  502  located in different geographical areas.  
         [0094]    The Testers  502  house the arsenals of tools  514  that can conduct hundreds of thousands of hacker and security tests  516 . The Tester  502  may receive encrypted basic test instructions from the Gateway  118 , via the Internet. The instructions inform the Tester  502  which test  516  to run, how to run it, what to collect from the customer system, etc. Every basic test  516  may be an autonomous entity that may be responsible for only one piece of the entire test that may be conducted by multiple Testers  502  in multiple waves from multiple locations. Each Tester  502  can have many basic tests  516  in operation simultaneously. The information collected by each test  516  about the customer systems  1002  may be sent to the Gateway  118 .  
         [0095]    Following is a partial list of hacker tools  514  that the preferred embodiment is adapted to use: (a) CGI-scanners such as whisker, cgichk, mesalla; (b) port scanners—nmap, udpscan, netcat; (c) administrative tools—ping, traceroute, Slayer ICMP; (d) common utilities—samba&#39;s nmblookup, smbclient; and (e) Nessus program for assessing a computer&#39;s registry.  
         [0096]    The Testers  502  are independent entities working in concert, orchestrated by the Command Engine  116 . Because they may be independent entities, they do not need to have the same operating systems  504 . Utilizing various operating systems  504  may be an advantage in security vulnerability assessment, and assists the preferred embodiment in maximizing the strengths of all the platforms. This typically leads to more accurate assessments and more efficient operations.  
         [0097]    Following are three examples of actual information returned by tools  514 . The first tool  514  is Nmap port scanner, running in one of its variations:  
         [0098]    Starting nmap V.2.53 by fyodor@insecure.org (www.insecure.org/nmap/)  
         [0099]    Interesting ports on localhost (127.0.0.1):  
         [0100]    (The 1502 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)  
                                                       Port   State   Service                           1/tcp   open   tcpmux           11/tcp   open   systat           15/tcp   open   netstat           21/tcp   open   ftp           22/tcp   open   ssh           23/tcp   open   telnet           25/tcp   open   smtp           53/tcp   open   domain           79/tcp   open   finger           80/tcp   open   http           635/tcp   open   unknown           1080/tcp   open   socks           8/tcp   open   squid-http           12345/tcp   open   NetBus           12346/tcp   open   NetBus           31337/tcp   open   Elite                      
 
         [0101]    Nmap run completed—1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 2 seconds.  
         [0102]    The second tool  514  is whisker-web cgi script scanner:  
           --   whisker          /        v1      .4      .0     +     SSL        /        rainforestpuppy        /          www   .   wiretrip   .     net   --              
     -     (     Bonus   :     Parallel                 support       )                 =                =                ===   =             -                -                -                -           -                               
     =     Host   :       127.0      .0      .1          
     -     Server   :       Microsoft        -        IIS        /        4.0          
     +     200                   OK   :       HEAD        /        _vti        _inf   .   html            
     +     200                   OK   :     HEAD        /        _private        /          form_results              .              txt                                               
 
         [0103]    The third tool  514  is icmp query for remote time stamp and remote subnet of a computer:  
                                         #./icmpquery −t 127.0.0.1                                127.0.0.1   17:17:33       127.0.0.1   OxFFFFFFE0                  
 
         [0104]    Inside each Tester  502  may be storehouses, or arsenals, of independent hacker and security tools  514 . These tools  502  can come from any source, ranging from pre-made hacker tools  514  to proprietary tools  514  from a development team. Because the Testers  502  may be NT, Unix, Linux, etc  504 , the tools  514  may be used in their native environment using an application processing interface (API)  512 , described elsewhere in this specification, with no need to rewrite the tools  514 . This usage gives the preferred embodiment an advantage in production. For example, hacker tools  514  that may be threatening corporations everywhere can be integrated into the preferred embodiment the same day they are published on the Internet. The API  512  also serves to limit the quality control testing cycle by isolating the new addition as an independent entity that is scrutinized individually. Additionally, because tools  514  can be written in any language for any platform  504 , the development of proprietary tools  514  need not be dependent on a lengthy training cycle and might even be outsourced. This ability is a significant differentiator for the preferred embodiment.  
         [0105]    Running the tools  514  from a separate tool server would be possible using a remote mount.  
         [0106]    The API  512  handles the things that are common among all the tools  514  that we have on a Tester  502 . Typically each tool wrapper will have commonly named variables that have specifics about the particular tool wrapper. The API  512  will use these variable values to do specific, common functionality, such as “open a file to dump tool results into”. In that example, the wrapper would simply call API::OpenLogFile. At this point the API  512  would be invoked. In that example, the API  512  will look at the values of the variables from the main program that called it. These variables will have the specifics of the particular wrapper. The API  512  will then open a log file in the appropriate directory for the program to write to. For example, the commands:  
         [0107]    $Suite=‘http’;  
         [0108]    $Tool=‘cgiscan’;  
         [0109]    would produce something similar to the following:  
         [0110]    /var/achilles/http/cgiscan/scanlog/J2334_T4234  
         [0111]    Other common functionality may be handled by the API  512 . For example when a tool  514  has completed and its information has been parsed, each wrapper may call the same function that initiates a connection back the Gateway  118  and deposits the parsed info on the Gateway  118  for pickup by the Command Engine  116 . Example: The tool wrapper simply calls the function API::CommitToGateway (filename) and the API  512  is responsible for opening the connection and passing the info back to the Gateway  118 , all with error handling.  
         [0112]    Other functionality includes but is not limited to: retrieving information passed to the tool  514  via command line parameters (Job Tracking ID, Tool Tracking ID, Target Host IP Address, etc.); Opening, Closing, and Deleting files; Error/Debug Logging Capability; Character substitution routines; etc.  
         [0113]    The system&#39;s capacity to conduct more tests for multiple customers at the same time can be increased dramatically by adding more Testers  502 .  
         [0114]    Internal Tester  
         [0115]    Internal Tester machines  502  are for the vulnerability assessment of an internal network, DMZ, or other areas of the network  1002 . The performance of an internal assessment may give a different view than just performing an external assessment. The resulting information may let an administrator know, if a cyber attacker were to perform an attack and gain access to network  1002 , what other machines, networks or resources the attacker would have access to. In addition, internal assessments may be conducted with administrative privileges thereby facilitating audit of individual workstations for software licensing, weak file permissions, security patch levels, etc.  
         [0116]    For the purposes of an internal assessment, several different appliances may be deployed on the customers network  1002 . For example, for traveling consultants, a pre-configured laptop computer loaded with an instance of a Tester  502  might be shipped for deployment. For permanent, continuous assessment installations a dedicated, pre-configured device in either a thin, rack mountable form or desktop style tower might be shipped for deployment. In both cases the device might boot out-of-the-box to a simple, graphical, configuration editor. The editor&#39;s interface is a web browser that might point to the active web server on the local loop-back device. Since the web server may be running on the loop-back device, it may only be accessible by the local machine. Some options of local configurations might include, for example: IP Stack configuration, DNS information, default route table, push/pull connection to Test Center  102 , account information, etc. Other options in the local configuration might include for example: IP diagnostics (Ping, Trace Route, etc.), DNS Resolutions, connections speed, hardware performance graphs, etc.  
         [0117]    Once local configuration has been completed and the Tester  502  verified to be active on the local network with some form of connectivity to the Internet, the web browser then can switch from the local web to a remote web server of the preferred embodiment. At this point the specifications of the test might be entered. If this were a single assessment, the IP range, Internet domain name, package type and company information might be necessary. For a continuous/permanent installation, other options might include frequency, re-occurrence, etc. Minor updates might be performed via the preferred embodiment upgrade systems. Major upgrades might be initiated for example by the traveling consultant prior to going to the customer&#39;s site or, in the case of a permanent installation, remotely initiated during a scheduled down time.  
         [0118]    The actual assessment might be similar to the remote assessment, however distributed capabilities may not be needed. Other future, add-on modules might include: registry readers for auditing of software licenses, modules for asserting file permissions, policy management modules, etc.  
         [0119]    Defending the Tester  
         [0120]    The use of a distributed architecture may mean placing out Testers  502  in hostile environment(s). Safeguards, policies, and methodologies may be in place to ensure the Integrity, Availability, and Confidentiality of the technology of the preferred embodiment.  
         [0121]    While the internal mechanisms of the Testers  502  may be complex, the external appearance may be simple by contrast. Each Tester  502  may be assigned one or more IP addresses; however, it may be that only the primary IP address has services actually running on it. These minimal services may be integral to the Tester  502 . The remaining IP addresses may have no services running on them. Having no services running means that there is no opportunity for an external attacker to gain access to the Tester  502 . In addition, there may be several processes that are designed to keep the environment clean of unknown or malicious activity.  
         [0122]    Each Tester  502  may be pre-configured in-house and designed for remote administration. Therefore, it may be that no peripherals (e.g., keyboard, monitor, mouse, floppies, CD-ROM drives, etc.) are enabled while the Tester  502  is in the field. An exception might be an out-of-band, dial-up modem that might feature strong encryption for authentication, logging, and dial-back capabilities to limit unauthorized access. This modem may be used, for example, in emergencies when the operating system is not completing its boot strap and may be audited on a continuous basis. This may limit the need for “remote-hands” (e.g., ISP employees) to have system passwords, and may reduce the likelihood of needing a lengthy on-site trip. Other physical security methods, such as locked computer cases, may be implemented. One example might be a locked case that would, upon unauthorized entry, shock the hardware and render the components useless.  
         [0123]    Until the integrity of Tester  502  may be verified by an outside source, it may be the case that no communication with the device will be trusted and the device may be marked as suspect. Confidence in integrity may be improved by several means. First of all, Tester&#39;s  502  arsenals of tools  514 , both proprietary and open source, may be contained on encrypted file systems. An encrypted file system may be a “drive” that, while unmounted, appears to be just a large encrypted file. In that case, when the correct password is supplied, the operating system would mount the file as a useable drive. The may prevent for example an unauthorized attacker with physical access to the Tester  502  from simply removing the drive, placing it into another machine and reading the contents. In that case, the only information an attacker might have access to might be the standard build of whatever operating system the Tester  502  happened to be running. If used, passwords may be random, unique to each Tester  502 , and held in the Test Center  102 . They may be changed from time to time, for example, on a bi-weekly basis.  
         [0124]    To protect the contents of the operating system itself, the contents may be verified before placing the Tester  502  in operation. For example, using a database of cryptographically calculated checksums the integrity of the system may be verified. Using that methodology, the “last known good” checksum databases may be held offsite and away from the suspected machine. Also, tools to calculate these sums may not stored on the machine because they might then be altered by a malicious attacker to give a false positive of the integrity of the suspected Tester  502 .  
         [0125]    Upon boot, the Tester  502  may send a simple alert to the Gateway  118  indicating it is online. The Gateway  118  may then issue a process to verify the integrity of the operating system. The process may connect to the Tester  502 , upload the crypto-libraries and binaries, perform the analysis, and retrieve the results. Then the crypto-database may be compared to the “Last Good” results and either approve or reject the Tester  502 . Upon rejection the administrator on call may be notified for manual inspection. Upon approval, the process may retrieve the file system password and use an encrypted channel to mount the drive. At this point the Tester  502  may be considered an extension of the “Test Center  102 ” and ready to accept jobs. This verification process may also be scheduled for pseudo-random spot checks.  
         [0126]    Security typically requires vigilance. Several processes may be in place to improve awareness of malicious activity that may be targeting an embodiment fo the invention. Port Sentries and Log Sentries may be in place to watch and alert of any suspicious activity and as a host-based intrusion detection system. Port Sentry is a simple, elegant, open source, public domain tool that is designed to alert administrators to unsolicited probes. Port sentry opens up several selected ports and waits for someone to connect. Typical choices of ports to open are services that are typically targeted by malicious attackers (e.g., ftp, sunRPC, Web, etc.). Upon connection, the program may do a variety of different things: drop route of the attacker to /dev/nul; add attacker to explicit deny list of host firewall; display a strong, legal warning; or run a custom retaliatory program. As such a strong response could lead to a denial of service issue with a valid customer, an alternative is to simply use it to log the attempt to the Tester  502  logs. Log sentry is another open source program that may be utilized for consolidation of log activity. It may check the logs every five minutes and email the results to the appropriate internet address.  
         [0127]    According to the Information Security Management Handbook 4 th  Edition “There is no control over e-mail once it leaves the internal network, e-mail can be read, tampered with and spoofed”. All e-mails from the Tester  502  may be encrypted, for example, with a public key before transport that improves the likelihood that it can only be read by authorized entities.  
         [0128]    Any username and password combination is susceptible to compromise, so an alternative is to not use passwords. An option is that only the administrator account has a password and that account can only be logged on locally (and not for example through the Internet) via physical access or the out-of-band modem. In this scenario, all other accounts have no passwords. Access would be controlled by means of public/private key technology that provides identification, authentication, and non-reputability of the user.  
         [0129]    To reduce the likelihood that data may be captured, all communication with the Testers  502  may be by way of an encrypted channel. Currently the module for communication may be Secure Shell (SSH1) for example. This could be easily switched to Open SSH, SSH2 or any other method. SSH provides multiple methods of encryption (DES, 3DES, IDEA, Blowfish) which is useful for locations where export of encryption may be legally regulated. In addition, 2048 bit RSA encryption keys may be used for authentication methods. SSH protects against: IP spoofing, where a remote host sends out packets which pretend to come from another, trusted host; a “spoofer” on the local network, who can pretend he is your router to the outside; IP source routing, where a host can pretend that an IP packet comes from another, trusted host; DNS spoofing, when an attacker forges name server records; interception of clear text passwords and other data by intermediate hosts; and manipulation of data by people in control of intermediate hosts.  
         [0130]    Self-Checking Process  
         [0131]    Prior to accepting instructions to initiate a basic test  516 , Testers  502  may undergo a Self-Checking Process  506  to verify that resources may be available to perform the task, that the tool  514  exists in its arsenal, that the correct version of the tool  514  is installed, and that the security integrity of the Tester  502  has not been tampered with. This process  506  may take milliseconds to perform. Tester  502  resources that may be checked include memory usage, processor usage, and disk usage. If the tool  514  does not exist or is not the correct version, then the correct tool  514  and version may be retrieved by the Tester  502  from the RMCT  119 , discussed elsewhere herein. Periodic testing may be conducted to confirm that the RMCT  119  retains its integrity and has not been tampered with.  
         [0132]    Target Verification Pre and Post Test  
         [0133]    Pre Test Target Verification  508  may be used to detect when a Tester  502  cannot reach its targeted customer system  1102  in network  1002  due to Internet routing problems. Internet outages and routing problems may be reported back through the Gateway  118  to the Resource Management module  308  of the Command Engine  116 , and the basic test  516  may be rerouted to another Tester  502  on a different Internet router.  
         [0134]    Post Test Target Verification  508  may be used to detect if the Tester  502  has tripped a defensive mechanism that may prevent further tests from gathering information. This may be particularly useful for networks  1002  with a Firewall/Intrusion Detection System combination. If the Tester  502  was able to connect for the pre test target verification  508 , but is unable to connect for the post verification  508  it is often the case that some defensive mechanism has been triggered, and the preferred embodiment therefore typically infers that network defenses have perceived an attack on the network. Information that the defense has been triggered may be sent through the Gateway  118  to the Command Engine  116  in order to modify the basic tests  516 . This methodology results in the ability to trip the security defenses, learn about the obstacles in place, and still accurately and successfully complete the security assessment.  
         [0135]    Tester  502  is merely illustrative, and could be Tester  120 , for example; in that case, operating system  504  would be Linux and Tester  502  would be located in New York. Of course, there is no reason why one or more additional Testers  502  could be located in New York and have the Linux operating system.  
         [0136]    Tools and API  
         [0137]    In detail, the API  512  for each tool  514  includes two kinds of components: an API stub  511  and a common API  510 . The API stub  511  is specifically adapted to handle the input(s) and output(s) of its tool  514 . The common API  510  is standard across all tools  514  and performs much of the interfacing between the Instructions and the tools  514 .  
         [0138]    As tools  514  may come from many sources—including in-house development, outsourced development, and open-source hacker and security sites—flexibility in incorporating new tools  514  into a testing system may be critical for maintaining rapid time to market. The API  512  serves to enable rapid integration time for new tools regardless of the language the tool  512  may be written in or the operating system  504  the tool  514  may be written for.  
         [0139]    The API  512  standardizes the method of interfacing to any tool  514  that may be added to the preferred embodiment by implementing common API  510 . Using the API  512 , each tool  514  can be integrated into the preferred embodiment through the addition of a few lines of code implementing API stub  511 . Integration of a new tool  514 , after quality assurance testing, may be completed within hours. This may be a significant differentiator and time to market advantage for the preferred embodiment.  
         [0140]    Each tool  514  should be tested before being integrated into the preferred embodiment in order to protect the integrity of the preferred embodiment system. The use of the API  512  to interface between the Gateway  118  and the tool  514  residing on the Tester  502  reduces testing cycles. The API  512  may be an important buffer that allows the tools  514  to remain autonomous entities. In a standard software scenario, the entire software system should be rigorously tested after each change to the software, no matter how minute. For the preferred embodiment, however, the API  512  keeps each tool  514  as a separate piece of software that does not affect the rest of the preferred embodiment. The API  512  passes the instructions to the tool  514 , and the API  512  retrieves the results from the tool  502  and passes them back to the Gateway  118 . This methodology effectively reduces testing cycles by isolating each new tool  514  as a quality assurance focal point while maintaining separation between the integrity of each tool  514  and the integrity of the preferred embodiment.  
         [0141]    Logical overview  2100  in FIG. 21 shows a logical view of the complimentary functions of tools  514  and the API  512  wrapper. Diagram section  2102  shows a symbolic hacker tool  514  and emphasizes that a command trigger causes the hacker tool  514  to run the diagnostic piece  516  that is executed to gather information, and the information is returned, in this case, to the Gateway  118 . The brackets around the harmful activity that the tool  514  performs indicate that the harmful part of the hacker tool does not damage the system  1102  in network  1002  under test. Diagram section  2104  illustrates the some of the functionality of the API  512  wrapper. Emphasizing that the information filters and command filters are customizable, providing a standard interface  510  across all hacker tools  514 . That is, the interface  510  between the tools  514  and the Command Database  1702  from the Command Database  1702  perspective is a standardized interface. The API  512  interprets the command from the Command Database  1702  via the Gateway  118 , interfaces to the hacker tool  514  using the correct syntax for that particular hacker tool  514 , and receives output from the hacker tool  514 , and translates that output to the Command Database  1702  input to be stored as raw information  214 . It should be noted that in FIG. 21 the network vulnerability assessment system is using a Command Database  1702  which combines the functionality of a Command Engine  116  and a Database  114 .  
         [0142]    The API-integration of tools  514  may be a big differentiator and time to market advantage for the preferred embodiment. The use of the tools  514  in their native environment and the use of the API  512  often allows the preferred embodiment to be adapted to use a new tool  514  in the same day it may be found, for example in the Internet. The API  512  also isolates quality assurance testing to further shorten time to market. While a different approach may require months to adapt new tools  514 , the preferred embodiment adapts to those same tools  514  in hours.  
         [0143]    The API  512  may also normalize test results data that may become part of customer network profile  212 . The test results may be referred to as “denormalized.” In contrast, “normalized” data may be in binary format that is unreadable without proper decoding. Typically, customer network profile  212  would be stored in normalized format.  
         [0144]    Report Generator Subsystem Functionality  
         [0145]    Depicted in overview  600  of FIG. 6, the Report Generator  112  uses information collected in the Database  114  about the customer&#39;s systems  1002  to generate one or more reports  2230  about the systems profile, ports utilization, security vulnerabilities, etc. The reports  2230  may reflect the profile and frequency of security services specified for provision to each customer. Security trend analyses can be provided to the extent that customer security information is generated and stored periodically. The security vulnerability assessment test can be provided on a monthly, weekly, daily, or other periodic basis and the report can be provided, for example, in hard copy, electronic mail or on a CD. New reports may continuously evolve, without substantially varying the preferred embodiment. As the customer base grows, new data mining and revenue generation opportunities that do not substantially vary from the preferred embodiment may present themselves. A report  2230  might include, for example, a quantitative score for total network  1002  risk that might be useful to an insurance company in packaging risk so that cyber attack insurance can be marketed. A report  2230  could be provided in any desired language. The level of detail in which information would be reported might include, for example, technical level detail, business level detail, and/or corporate level detail. A report  2230  might break down information by test tool  514 , by positive reports  2230 , by network  1002  and/or system  1102  changes. A report  2230  might even anticipate issues that might arise based on provided prospective changes. Reports  2230 , raw data  214 , etc. could be recorded on, for example, CD for the customer. The customer would then be able to use the data to better manage its IS systems, review actual tests, generate work tickets for corrective measures (perhaps automatically), etc. The specific exemplary reports  2230  shown in overview  600  include Vulnerability Report  602 , Services  604 , Network Mapping  606 , and Historical Trends  608 .  
         [0146]    In a preferred embodiment, the Report Generator  112  receives customer network profile  212  from the Database  114  which is in a binary format that is generally unreadable except by the Report Generator  112 . The Report Generator  112  then decodes the customer network profile. The Report Generator  112  also receives the customer profile  204  from Database  114 . Based on the customer profile  204  and customer network profile  212 , the Report Generator  112  polls the Database  114  for selected Report Elements  210 . The Report Generator  112  then complies a report  2230  based on the selected Report Elements  210 .  
         [0147]    Early Warning Generators Subsystem Functionality  
         [0148]    The Early Warning Generator subsystem  112  may be used to alert  714  relevant customers to early warnings on a periodic or aperiodic basis that a new security vulnerability  702 can affect their system. The alert  714  tells the customer which vulnerability  702  may affect them, which computers  1102  in their network  1002  may be affected, and what to do to reduce or eliminate the exposure.  
         [0149]    On a daily basis, for example, when new security vulnerabilities  702  are found by researchers or provided through other channels, the preferred embodiment compares  710  each configuration  704  affected by new vulnerability  702  against each customer&#39;s most recent network configuration test result  708 . If the new vulnerability  702  may be found to affect the customer systems  1102  or networks  1002  then an alert  714  would be sent to the customer, for example, via e-mail  712 . The alert  714  may indicate the detail  716  of the new vulnerability  706 , which machines may be affected  720 , and/or what to do  718  to correct the problem. Only customers affected by the new security vulnerabilities  702  receive the alerts  714 . This reduces the “noise” of the great number of vulnerabilities  702  that are frequently published, to just those that affect the customer.  
         [0150]    Note that the steps of customizing e-mail  712  and notification  714  need not relate to e-mail technology, but may be any method of communicating information.  
         [0151]    A customer would also have the option of tagging specific vulnerability alerts  714  to be ignored and therefore not repeated thereafter, for example, where the customer has non-security reasons to not implement corrective measures. Corrective measures that were to be implemented by the customer could be tracked, the responsible technician periodically reminded of the task, a report made upon completion of implementation of corrective measures, the effectiveness of corrective measures could be checked immediately by running a specific test  516  for the specific vulnerability  702  corrected.  
         [0152]    Adding New Tools to the Preferred Embodiment  
         [0153]    New security vulnerability assessment tools  516  may regularly be added to the preferred embodiment. The methodology of how to do this may be beneficial in managing a customer&#39;s security risk on timely basis.  
         [0154]    The tools  514  themselves, with their API  512 , may be added to the Tester&#39;s RMCT (again, Repository Master Copy Tester)  119 . An RMCT  119  may be a Tester  502  located in the Test Center  102 . These RMCTs  119  may be used by the Testers  502  that may be web-hosted around the world to obtain the proper copy. The name of the tool  514 , its release number, environmental triggers, etc. may be added to the Command Engine&#39;s Tool Management module  314 . Each vulnerability  702  that the new tool  514  checks for may be added to the Vulnerability Library  206 . An addition may need to be made to the Database  114  schema so that the raw output  214  of the test may be warehoused.  
         [0155]    When a new test  516  may be conducted, the Command Engine  116  uses the identifiers of the new tools  514  with their corresponding parameters inside the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312 . The tool information may be sent through the Gateway  118  to the Testers  502 . The Tester  502  first checks  506  for the existence of the tool  514  instructed to run. If the tool  514  does not exist, it retrieves the install package with the API  512  from the RMCT  119 . If the tool  514  does exist, it may verify that the version of the tool  514  matches with the version in the instruction set it received. If the instruction set version does not match the tool version, the Tester  502  retrieves the update package from the RMCT  119 . In this manner the ability to update multiple Testers  502  around the world is an automated process with minimum work.  
         [0156]    The RMCT  119  is part of the Test Center  101 . The RMCT  119  may be protected since it is a device that is enabled to share the tools  514  with other machines. The RMCT  119  may communicate with Testers  502  through the Gateway  118 , but that need not be the case in all embodiments. The RMCT  119  does not operate as a normal Tester  502 . The RMCT&#39;s  119  purpose is to provide the updates (including version rollbacks) to the Tester  502 . A possible version control software and communication might be Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) over Secure Shell (SSH). The performed embodiment might actually utilize any type of version control with any type of encryption or other similarly functioned technology. The preferred embodiment has the flexibility to utilize either pushing or pulling technology. Currently, the preferred embodiment includes a single RMCT  119 : CVS is OS neutral as it stores the source code and binary executables for multiple OS&#39;s. However, the number of Testers  502  that need to be updated may exceed the ability of a single RMCT  119 . To meet this potential need, the design of the system allows for multiple RMCTs  119 .  
         [0157]    VM Ware is a commercial program that enables multiple operating systems to run on the same computer. For example, VM Ware enables NT to run on a Linux box. The user has the ability to toggle back and forth without rebooting. The possibility of using VM Ware, or a similar product, exists to enable different operating systems to be used without the need for separate machines for each type of operating system.  
         [0158]    Updating Additional Preferred Embodiment Systems  
         [0159]    Preferred embodiment systems sold to customers may be equipped with the capability to receive automatic updates as part of their support services. These updates may include new tools  514  to test for new vulnerabilities  702  and newly researched or discovered vulnerabilities  702 . These preferred embodiment systems may replicate the Early Warning Generator  112  system for their customers through these active updates. In this way all preferred embodiment systems may be up-to-date on a frequent basis.  
         [0160]    An effective way to manage security risk may be to minimize the window of exposure for any new security vulnerability that affects customer systems. The preferred embodiment may be a self-updating risk management system that may be virtually always up-to-date.  
         [0161]    Overview diagram of an alternative embodiment  1700  depicts a network vulnerability assessment system in which the functionalities of the Command Engine  1116  and the Database  114  are combined into one unit shown as Command Database  1702  which issues attack instructions  138  to Gateway  118  resulting in attack command  140  being transmitted to one of the three shown Tester server farms  1704 .  
         [0162]    A Preferred Embodiment Attack/Test Methodology  
         [0163]    The Command Engine  116  operates as a data-driven process. This means that it can respond to and react to data or information passed to it. Information may be passed through the Command Engine  116  as it is gathered from the systems being tested  1002 . Responding to this information, the Command Engine  116  generates new tests  516  that may, in turn, provide additional information. This iterative process continues until testing has been exhausted. This methodology offers extreme flexibility and unlimited possibilities.  
         [0164]    This framework was created so that as new methodologies or techniques are discovered they can be implemented easily. The following discussion gives examples of some of the different methodologies used by the preferred embodiment and that underscore the ability to react to the environment it encounters.  
         [0165]    Having a distributed, coordinated attack that tests customer systems has several advantages over alternate vulnerability scanning methodologies.  
         [0166]    The distributed model may evade defensive security measures such as Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). By being distributed, the assessment may be broken down into many basic tests  516  and distributed to multiple Testers  502 . Since each machine only carries a minute part of the entire test, it may be harder for defensive mechanisms to find a recognizable pattern. Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems rely on finding patterns in network traffic that reach a certain threshold of activity. These patterns may be called attack signatures. By using the distributed model we may be able to make the attack signature random in content, size, IP source, etc. so as to not meet typical predetermined thresholds and evade defenses. Hence this approach may be figuratively referred to as “armor piercing”. Additionally, each Tester  502  may actually have multiple source addresses to work with. This means that each Tester  502  may be capable of appearing to be a different computer for each source address it has.  
         [0167]    Basic tests  516 , originating from various points on the Internet, provide a fairly realistic approach to security testing. Cyber attacks often stem from an inexperienced attacker simply trying out a new tool  514 . The attacker may find a single tool  514  that exploits one specific service and then begin to scan the Internet, randomly choosing networks  1002  to target. Samples of firewall logs from corporations and individuals show this to be a common attack activity.  
         [0168]    In addition, each basic test  516  takes up a very small amount of Tester  5 - 2  resources. Because of this, each Tester  502  can perform thousands of basic tests  516  at any given time against multiple networks  1002  simultaneously.  
         [0169]    The preferred embodiment is very scalable. The transaction load may be shared by the Testers  502 . As more customers need to be serviced and more tests  516  need to be performed, it is a simple matter of adding more Testers  502  to the production environment. In addition to the test approaches described, Bombardment is an option. In Bombardment, many Testers  502  are used to flood a system  1102  or network  1002  with normal traffic to perform a “stress test” on the system, called a distributed denial of service.  
         [0170]    Frontal Assault  
         [0171]    Depicted in overview  1100  of FIG. 11, the Frontal Assault is designed to analyze networks  1002  that have little or no security mechanisms in place. As the name implies, this testing methodology is a straightforward, open attack that makes no attempt to disguise or hide itself. It is the quickest of methodologies available. Typically, a network  1002  with a moderate level of security may detect and block this activity. However, even on networks  1002  that may be protected, the Frontal Assault identifies which devices  1102  may be not located behind the security mechanism. Mapping and flagging devices that may be not behind security defenses gives a more accurate view of the network  1002  layout and topology. Test instruction  1101  is sent from Gateway  118  to Tester  1106  to launch all tests  516  at system  1102 . Other Testers ( 1108  through  1122 ) are idle during the testing, with respect to system  1102 .  
         [0172]    Guerrilla Warfare  
         [0173]    Depicted in overview  1200  of FIG. 12 is “Guerrilla Warfare.” If Frontal Assault has been completed and a heightened level of security detected, a new methodology may be needed for further probing of systems  1102  in the target network  1002 . The Guerrilla Warfare method deploys randomness and other anti-IDS techniques to keep the target network defenses from identifying the activity. Many systems may detect a full Frontal Assault by pattern recognition.  
         [0174]    However, when the methodology may be changed to closely mimic the activities of independent random cyber attackers, many defensive systems do not notice the activity. Such attackers choose a single exploit and scan random addresses for that one problem. There may be 131,070 ports for TCP &amp; UDP per every computer  1102  on the network  1002  being analyzed. Port tests may be distributed across multiple Testers  502  to distribute the workload and to achieve the results in a practical period of time.  
         [0175]    Other features of this methodology include additional anti-IDS methods. For instance, many sites deploy SSL (secure socket layers) on their web server so that when customers transmit sensitive information to the server it may be protected by a layer of encryption. The layer of encryption prevents a malicious eavesdropper from intercepting it. However, the preferred embodiment uses this same protective layer to hide the security testing of a web server from the network Intrusion Detection system.  
         [0176]    Test instructions  1202  through  1218  are sent by Gateway  118  to Testers  1106  through  1122 , respectively, generating appropriate tests  516  in accordance with the Guerrilla Warfare methodology.  
         [0177]    Winds of Time  
         [0178]    Depicted in overview  1300  in FIG. 13, the “Winds of Time” slows down the pace of an set of tests until it becomes much more difficult for a defensive mechanism sensitive to time periods to detect and protect against it. For example, a network defense may perceive a single source connecting to five ports within two minutes as an attack. Each Tester  502  conducts a basic test  516  and then waits for a period of time before performing another basic test  516  for that customer network  1002 . Basic tests  516  for other customers who may be not receiving the Winds of Time method may continue without interruption. Anti-IDS methods similar to those used in the Guerrilla Warfare methodology may be deployed, but their effectiveness may be magnified when the element of time-delay may be added. The Guerrilla and Wind of Time test methodologies can create unlimited test combinations.  
         [0179]    Note that when a Tester (one of Testers  1106  through  1122 ) is said to “sleep for X minutes” in FIG. 13, the particular values for X do not need to be identical. For example, Tester  1108  may not test system  1102  for ten milliseconds, while Tester  1120  may not test system  1102  for five seconds. However, it should be noted that the sleeping Testers  1108 ,  1112 ,  1116 , and  1120  may be testing other systems during this “sleep” time. Meanwhile, instructions  1302  through  1310  are sent from the Gateway  118  to the Testers  1106 ,  1110 ,  1114 ,  1118 , and  1122  which are testing  516  system  1102 .  
         [0180]    Data Driven Logic  
         [0181]    Overview  1400  in FIG. 14 illustrates a sample of the attack logic used by the preferred embodiment. Prior to the first “wave”  1410  of basic tests  516 , an initial mapping  1402  records a complete inventory of services running on the target network  1002 . An initial mapping  1402  discloses what systems  1102  are present, what ports are open ( 1404 ,  1406 , and  1408 ) what services each system is running, general networking problems, web or e-mail servers, whether the system&#39;s IP address is a phone number, etc. Basic network diagnostics might include whether a system can be pinged, whether a network connection fault exists, whether rerouting is successful, etc. For example, regarding ping, some networks have ping shut off at the router level, some at the firewall level, and some at the server level. If ping doesn&#39;t work, then attempt may be made to establish a handshake connection to see whether the system responds. If handshake doesn&#39;t work, then request confirmation from the system of receipt of a message that was never actually sent because some servers can thereby be caused to give a negative response. If that doesn&#39;t work, then send a message confirming reception of a message from the server that was not actually received because some servers can thereby be caused to give a negative response. Tactics like these can generate a significant amount of information about the customer&#39;s network of systems  1002 .  
         [0182]    Based on that information, found in the initial mapping, the first wave  1410  of tools may be prepared and executed to find general problems. Most services have general problems that affect all versions of that service regardless of the vendor. For example, ftp suffers from anonymous access  1412 , e-mail suffers from unauthorized mail relaying  1414 , web suffers from various sample scripts  1416 , etc. In addition, the first wave  1410  of tools  514  attempts to collect additional information related to the specific vendor that programmed the service. The information collected from the first wave  1410  may be analyzed and used to prepare and execute the next wave of tools  514 . The second wave  1420  looks for security holes that may be related to specific vendors (for example,  1422 ,  1424 ,  1426 , and  1428 ). In addition to any vendor specific vulnerabilities that may be discovered, the second wave attempts to obtain the specific version numbers of the inspected services. Based on the version number, additional tools  514  and tests  516  may be prepared and executed for the third wave  1430 . The third wave  1430  returns additional information like  1432 ,  1434 ,  1436 , and  1438 .  
         [0183]    Software Scanner Logic  
         [0184]    Depicted in overview  1500  of PRIOR ART FIG. 15 for comparison purposes, this may be the typical method of test that may be found in vulnerability scanner software. It simply finds open service ports during an initial mapping  1502  and then executes all tests  516  pertaining to the “testing group” (for example,  1512 ,  1513 , and  1514 ) in a first (and only) wave  1510 . While it may gather similar vender/version information as it goes, it does not actually incorporate the information into the scan. This type of logic does not adapt its testing method to respond to the environment, making it prone to false positives. A false positive occurs when a vulnerability is said to exist based on testing results, when the vulnerability does not actually exist.  
         [0185]    Software scanners may be blocked at the point of customer defense, as shown for example, in FIG. 16 a , in overview  1600  of PRIOR ART FIG. 16 a , where test  1602  finds devices  1604 ,  1606 , an  1608  only. The preferred embodiment, by contrast, may penetrate those defenses to accurately locate all devices reachable from the Internet, in the example shown in overview  1600  of FIG. 16 b , where tests  516  find devices  1604 ,  1606 ,  1608 , and also, beyond defenses  1652  and  1654 , devices  1658 .  
         [0186]    Note that there is no reason why an alternative communication medium other than the Internet could not be used by the preferred embodiment. Such would not constitute a substantial variance.  
         [0187]    Better Test Methodologies Provide Better Results  
         [0188]    The preferred embodiment, through distributed basic tests  516 , may be able to accurately map all of the networks  1002  and systems  1102  that may be reachable from the Internet. The same distributed basic test methodology, in conjunction with pre- and post-testing,  508  enables the preferred embodiment to continue to evade IDS in order to accurately locate security vulnerabilities accurately on every machine  1102 .  
         [0189]    [0189]FIGS. 16 a  and  16   b  illustrate some differences between the capabilities of some PRIOR ART software scanners and the preferred embodiment. Typically, the greater the security measures in place, the greater the difference between these capabilities. The customer network being analyzed in the illustrations may be based on an actual system tested with the preferred embodiment, the network having very strong security defenses in place. The PRIOR ART testing of FIG. 16 a  was able to locate only a small portion of the actual network. By contrast, FIG. 16 b  depicts the level of discovery the preferred embodiment was able to achieve regarding the same network under test.  
         [0190]    [0190]FIG. 23 depicts logic flow within the Command Engine. First, the job cue is read,  2302 ; a job tracking sequence number is generated,  2304 ; information in the job tracking table is updated,  2306 ; and initial mapping basic tests are generated,  2308 . The results of the initial mapping is stored in the Database,  2310 . All open ports are catalogued for each node,  2312 , and the results of that cataloguing is stored in the Database,  2314 . Master tools are then simultaneously launched for all ports and protocols that need to be tested,  2312 . The example illustrated shows only one tool suite needing to be launched, that being the HTTP protocol that was found on the open port. Block  2318  represents the launching of the HTTP suite. If the system under test has given no information about itself, then a generic HTTP test is generated,  2322 , and the results are stored in the Database,  2324 . However, if information is available about the systems under test at step  2320 , then vulnerabilities are looked up and the next wave of basic tests planned accordingly,  2326 . Basic tests are generated for each vulnerability,  2328 , and results are stored in the Database from each basic test,  2324 . Each basic test will either return a positive or negative result. For each positive result, determine whether information is available,  2330 . Once all available information has been gathered, the http suite will end,  2332 . So long as additional available information exists, vulnerabilities are looked up, and the next wave of basic tests, as appropriate, are generated based on that available information,  2334 . Basic tests are generated for each vulnerability,  2336 . The results of those basic tests are stored in the Database,  2338 . Then the cycle repeats itself with a determination of whether available information still exists,  2330 . After the master suite is finished,  2332 , metrics are stored,  2340 . The metrics might describe, for example, how long tools were operated, when the tools were executed, when they finished executing, etc. The status of all master tool suites is determined,  2342 , and following the completion of all master tool suites, the reports are generated accordingly,  2346 . The information in the job tracking table is then updated to indicate that the job has been completed and to store any other information that needs to be tracked,  2348 .  
         [0191]    Operation of a Preferred Embodiment  
         [0192]    The following is a description of an example of one preferred embodiment&#39;s operation flow.  
         [0193]    Security assessment tests for each customer may be scheduled on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis. The Job Scheduling module  202  initiates customer tests, at scheduled times, on a continuous basis.  
         [0194]    The Check Schedule module  302  in the Command Engine  116  polls the Job Scheduling module  202  to see if a new test needs to be conducted. If a new test job may be available, the Check Schedule module  302  sends the customer profile  204  to the Test Logic module  304 . The customer profile  204  informs the Command Engine  116  of the services the customer purchased, the IP addresses that need to be tested, etc. so that the Command Engine  116  may conduct the appropriate set of tests  516 .  
         [0195]    Based on the customer profile  204 , the Test Logic module  304  determines which tests  516  needs to be run by the Testers  502  and where the tests  516  should come from. The Test Logic module  304  uses the customer profile  204  to assemble a list of specific tests  516 ; it uses the Resource Management module  308 , which tracks the availability of resources, to assign the tests  516  to specific Testers  502 . This list may be sent to the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312 . The Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  works in conjunction with the Tool Management module  314  to complete the final instructions to be used by the Gateway  118  and the Testers  502 . These final instructions, the instruction sequences, may be placed in the Queue  310 .  
         [0196]    The Gateway  118  retrieves  402  the instruction sequences from the Queue  310 . Each instruction sequence consists of two parts. The first part contains instructions to the Gateway  118  and indicates which Tester  502  the Gateway  118  should communicate with. The second part of the instructions is relevant to the Tester  502 , and it is these instructions that are sent to the appropriate Tester  502 .  
         [0197]    Each port on each system  1102  is typically tested to find out which ports are open. Typically, there are 65,535 TCP ports and 65,535 UDP ports for a total of 131,070 ports per machine. For example, one hundred thirty tests may be required to determine how many of the ports are open. Certain services are conventionally found on certain ports. For example, web servers are usually found on port  80 . However, a web server may be found on port  81 . By checking protocols on each possible port, the preferred embodiment would discover the web server on port  81 .  
         [0198]    Once the test  516  is completed by the Tester  502 , the results are received by the Tool/Test Output module  306 . This module sends the raw results  214  to the Database  114  for storage and sends a copy of the result to the Test Logic module  304 . The Test Logic module  304  analyzes the initial test results and, based on the results received, determines the make-up of the next wave of basic tests  516  to be performed by the Testers  502 . Again, the new list is processed by the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312  and placed in the Queue  310  to be retrieved by the Gateway  118 . This dynamic iterative process repeats and adapts itself to the customer&#39;s security obstacles, system configuration and size. Each successive wave of basic tests  516  collects increasingly detailed information about the customer system  1102 . The process ends when all relevant information has been collected about the customer system  1102 .  
         [0199]    As tests  516  are being conducted by the system, performance metrics  208  of each test are stored for later use.  
         [0200]    The Resource Management module  308  helps the Test Logic  304  and the Tool Initiation modules  312  by tracking the availability of Testers  502  to conduct tests  516 , the tools  514  in use on the Testers  502 , the multiple tests  516  being conducted for a single customer network  1002  and the tests conducted for multiple customer networks  1002  at the same time. This may represent hundreds of thousands of basic tests  516  from multiple geographical locations for one customer network  1002  or several millions of basic tests  516  conducted at the same time if multiple customer networks  1002  are being tested simultaneously.  
         [0201]    The Gateway  118  is the “traffic director” that passes the particular basic test instructions from the Command Engine Queue  310  to the appropriate Tester  502 . Each part of a test  516  may be passed as a separate command to the Tester  516  using the instructions generated by the Tool Initiation Sequencer  312 . Before sending the test instructions to the Testers  502 , the Gateway  118  verifies that the Tester&#39;s  502  resources may be available to be used for the current test  516 . Different parts of an entire test can be conducted by multiple Testers  502  to randomize the points of origin. This type of security vulnerability assessment is typically hard to detect, appears realistic to the security system, and may reduce the likelihood of the customer security system discovering that it is being penetrated. Multiple tests  516 , for multiple customer systems  1102  or a single customer system  1102 , can be run by one Tester  502  simultaneously. All communication between the Gateway  118  and the Testers  502  may be encrypted. As the results of the tests  516  are received by the Gateway  118  from the Testers  502  they are passed to the Command Engine  116 .  
         [0202]    The Testers  502  house the arsenals of tools  514  that can conduct hundreds of thousands of hacker and security tests  516 . The Tester  502  receives from the Gateway  118 , via the Internet, encrypted basic test instructions. The instructions inform the Tester  502  which test  516  to run, how to run it, what to collect from the customer system, etc. Every basic test  516  is an autonomous entity that is responsible for only one piece of the entire test that may be conducted by multiple Testers  502  in multiple waves from multiple locations. Each Tester  502  can have many basic tests  516  in operation simultaneously. The information collected in connection with each test  516  about the customer systems  1102  in customer network  1002  is sent to the Gateway  118 .  
         [0203]    The API  512  is a standardized shell that holds any code that may be unique to the tool (such as parsing instructions), and thus APIs commonly vary among different tools.  
         [0204]    Report Generator Subsystem Functionality  
         [0205]    The Report Generator  110  uses the information collected in the Database  114  about the customer&#39;s systems  1002  to generate a report  2230  about the systems profile, ports utilization, security vulnerabilities, etc. The reports  2230  reflect the profile of security services and reports frequency the customer bought. Security trend analyses can be provided since the scan stores customer security information on a periodic basis. The security vulnerability assessment test can be provided on a monthly, weekly, daily, or other periodic or aperiodic basis specified and the report can be provided in hard copy, electronic mail or on a CD.  
         [0206]    [0206]FIG. 22 depicts the logic flow at a high level of information flowing through the preferred embodiment during its operation. The domain or URL and IP addresses of the system to be tested are provided in Table  2202  and  2204  combining to make up a job order shown as Table  2206 . Job tracking occurs as described elsewhere in the specification represented by Table  2208 . Tables  2210 ,  2212 , and  2214  depict tools being used to test the system under test. Information is provided from those tools following each test and accumulated as represented in Table  2224  in the Database  114 . Additional information about vulnerabilities is gathered from other sources other than through test results as represented by Tables  2222 ,  2220 ,  2218  and  2216 , which is also fed into Table  2224 . Therefore, Table  2224  should contain information on the vulnerabilities mapped to the IP addresses for that particular job. Tables  2226  and  2228  represent the vulnerability library, and information goes from there to create Report  2230 .  
         [0207]    Future reports/reporting capabilities might include, survey details such as additional information that focuses on the results of the initial mapping giving in depth information on the availability and the types of communication available to machines that are accessible from the Internet; additional vulnerability classifications and breakdowns by those classifications; graphical maps of the network; new devices since the previous assessment; differences between assessments: both what is new and what has been fixed since the previous assessment; IT management reports, such as who has been assigned the vulnerability to fix, who fixed the vulnerability, how long has the vulnerability been open and open vulnerabilities by assignment, and breakdown of effectiveness of personal at resolving security issues.  
         [0208]    Early Warning Generator Subsystem Functionality  
         [0209]    The Early Warning Generator subsystem  112  may be used to alert relevant customers on a daily basis of new security vulnerability that can affect their system  1102  or network  1002 . On a daily basis, when new security vulnerabilities may be provided, the preferred embodiment compares  710  the new vulnerability  702  against the customer&#39;s most recent network configuration profile  708 . If the new vulnerability  702  may be found to affect the customer systems  1102  or network  1002  then an alert  714  may be sent via e-mail  712  to the customer. The alert  714  indicates the detail of the new vulnerability  702 , which machines may be affected, and what to do to correct the problem. Only customers affected by the new security vulnerabilities  702  receive the alerts  714 .  
         [0210]    [0210]FIG. 18 shows an alternative preferred embodiment in which third-party portals  1804 ,  1806 , and  1808 , for example, access the services of the system. Tester  502  contained within logical partition  1802  have been selected to provide services accessible via portals  1804 ,  1806 , and  1808 . Tester&#39;s  502  outside of logical partition  1802  have not been selected to provide such services. ASP  1814  has been connected as part of the logical system  1802  in order to provide services directly from the set of Tester&#39;s  502  contained within logical system  1802 . The Tester&#39;s  502  contained within logical system  1802  is driven by Test Center  102 . Requests for testing services are initiated from customer node  1803  through communication connection  1812 . Requests for services may be initiated directly from a customer node  1803  to Test Center  102 ; or through a third-party portal, such as one of portals  1804 ,  1806  or  1808 ; or directly to a linked ASP  1814 . The communication link from any particular customer node  1803  is shown by communication link  1812  and may be any communication technology, such as DSL, cable modem, etc. The ASP is linked to logical system  1802  by using logical system  1802  to host itself to deliver services directly to its customers. In response to service requests, Tester&#39;s  502  within logical system  1802  are used to deliver tests  516  on the designated IP addresses which make up customer network  1002 . Customer network  1002  may or may not be connected to the requesting customer node  1803  via possible communication link  1810 . Note that logical system  1802  may alternatively include all Tester&#39;s  502 .  
         [0211]    Geographic overview diagram  1900  in FIG. 19 depicts a geographically disbursed array of server farms  1704  conducting tests on client network  1002  as orchestrated by Test Center  101 . Similarly, geographic overview  2000  in FIG. 20 shows the testing of customer network  1002  by a geographically disbursed array of Tester farms  1704 .  
         [0212]    Communications described as being transmitted via the Internet may be transmitted, in the alternative, via any equivalent transmission technology. Also, there is no reason why the functionalities of the Test Center  101  cannot be combined into a single computing device. Similarly, there is no reason why the functionalities of Test Center  102  cannot be combined into a single computing device. Such combinations, or partial combinations in the same spirit are within the scope of the invention and would not be substantially different from the preferred embodiments. Similarly, in most discussions of exemplary embodiments discussed in this specification, Test Center  101  and Test Center  102  would be interchangeable without affecting the spirit of the embodiment being discussed. A notable exception, for example, would be the discussion of updating tools  514 , in which Test Center  101  is appropriately used because of the need for the functionality of RMCTs  119 . Reports are described in this specification as being in any of a variety of formats. Additional possible formats include .doc, .pdf, html, postscript, .xml, test, hardbound, CD, flash, or any other format for communicating information.  
         [0213]    It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description herein are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive manner, and are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms and examples disclosed. On the contrary, the invention includes any further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, as defined by the following claims. In particular, none of the description in the present application should be read as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope: THE SCOPE OF PATENTED SUBJECT MATTER IS DEFINED ONLY BY THE ALLOWED CLAIMS. Thus, it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments. Moreover, none of these claims are intended to invoke paragraph six of 35 U.S.C. §112 unless a phrase of the particular style “means . . . for” is followed by a participle.