Patent ID: 12218977

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, in which preferred embodiments are shown. The foregoing may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the illustrated embodiments set forth herein.

All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. References to items in the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise or clear from the context. Grammatical conjunctions are intended to express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, unless otherwise indicated or made clear from the context, the term “or” should generally be understood to mean “and/or” and, similarly, the term “and” should generally be understood to mean “and/or.”

Recitation of ranges of values herein are not intended to be limiting, referring instead individually to any and all values falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value within such a range is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. The words “about,” “approximately,” or the like, when accompanying a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described embodiments. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as,” or the like) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the embodiments or the claims. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed element as essential to the practice of the embodiments.

In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” “above,” “below,” and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as implying a chronological order or otherwise limiting any corresponding element unless expressly state otherwise.

FIG.1illustrates an environment for threat management. Specifically,FIG.1depicts a block diagram of a threat management system providing protection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats—a context in which the following techniques may usefully be deployed. One aspect relates to corporate policy management and implementation through a unified threat management facility. As will be explained in more detail below, a threat management facility100may be used to protect computer assets from many threats, both computer-generated threats and user-generated threats. The threat management facility100may be multi-dimensional in that it may be designed to protect corporate assets from a variety of threats and it may be adapted to learn about threats in one dimension (e.g. worm detection) and apply the knowledge in another dimension (e.g. spam detection). Policy management is one of the dimensions for which the threat management facility can provide a control capability. A corporation or other entity may institute a policy that prevents certain people (e.g. employees, groups of employees, types of employees, guest of the corporation, etc.) from accessing certain types of computer programs. For example, the corporation may elect to prevent its accounting department from using a particular version of an instant messaging service or all such services. In this example, a policy management facility112may be used to update the policies of all corporate computing assets with a proper policy control facility or it may update a select few. By using the threat management facility100to facilitate the setting, updating and control of such policies the corporation only needs to be concerned with keeping the threat management facility100up to date on such policies. The threat management facility100can take care of updating all of the other corporate computing assets.

It should be understood that the threat management facility100may provide multiple services, and policy management may be offered as one of the services. We will now turn to a description of certain capabilities and components of the threat management facility100.

Over recent years, malware has become a major problem across the Internet154. From both a technical perspective and a user perspective, the categorization of a specific threat type, whether as virus, worm, spam, phishing exploration, spyware, adware, or the like, is becoming reduced in significance. The threat, no matter how it is categorized, may need to be stopped at various points of a networked computing environment, such as one of an enterprise facility102, including at one or more laptops, desktops, servers, gateways, communication ports, handheld or mobile devices, firewalls, and the like. Similarly, there may be less and less benefit to the user in having different solutions for known and unknown threats. As such, a consolidated implementation of the threat management facility100may need to apply a similar set of technologies and capabilities for all threats. In certain embodiments, the threat management facility100may provide a single agent on the desktop, and a single scan of any suspect file. This approach may eliminate the inevitable overlaps and gaps in protection caused by treating viruses and spyware as separate problems, while simultaneously simplifying administration and minimizing desktop load. As the number and range of types of threats has increased, so may have the level of connectivity available to all IT users. This may have led to a rapid increase in the speed at which threats may move. Today, an unprotected PC connected to the Internet154may be infected quickly (perhaps within 10 minutes) which may require acceleration for the delivery of threat protection. Where once monthly updates may have been sufficient, the threat management facility100may automatically and seamlessly update its product set against spam and virus threats quickly, for instance, every five minutes, every minute, continuously, or the like. Analysis and testing may be increasingly automated, and also may be performed more frequently; for instance, it may be completed in 15 minutes, and may do so without compromising quality. The threat management facility100may also extend techniques that may have been developed for virus and malware protection, and provide them to the enterprise facility102network administrators to better control their environments. In addition to stopping malicious code, the threat management facility100may provide policy management that may be able to control legitimate applications, such as VoIP, instant messaging, peer-to-peer file-sharing, and the like, that may undermine productivity and network performance within the enterprise facility102.

The threat management facility100may provide the enterprise facility102protection from computer-based malware, including viruses, spyware, adware, Trojans, intrusion, spam, policy abuse, uncontrolled access, and the like, where the enterprise facility102may be any entity with a networked computer-based infrastructure. In an embodiment,FIG.1may depict a block diagram of the threat management facility100providing protection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats. The enterprise facility102may be corporate, commercial, educational, governmental, or the like, and the computer network of the enterprise facility102may be distributed amongst a plurality of facilities, and in a plurality of geographical locations, and may include an administration facility134, a firewall138A, a threat management appliance facility140A, a server facility142A, network devices148A—B, clients144A—D, such as protected by one or more endpoint computer security facilities152, and the like. It will be understood that any reference herein to client facilities may include the clients144A—D shown inFIG.1and vice-versa. The threat management facility100may include a plurality of functions, such as a security management facility122, the policy management facility112, an update facility120, a threat definitions facility114, a network access rules facility124, a remedial action facility128, a detection techniques facility130, a testing facility118, a threat research facility132, and the like. In embodiments, the threat protection provided by the threat management facility100may extend beyond the network boundaries of the enterprise facility102to include the clients144D (or client facilities) that have moved into network connectivity not directly associated or controlled by the enterprise facility102. Threats to client facilities may come from a plurality of sources, such as from network threats104, physical proximity threats110, threats at the secondary location108, and the like. The clients144A—D may be protected from threats even when the client144A—D is not located in association with the enterprise facility102, such as when a client144E—F moves in and out of the enterprise facility102, for example when interfacing with an unprotected server facility142C through the Internet154, when the client144F is moving into a threat at the secondary location108such as interfacing with components140B,142B,148C,148D that are not protected, and the like. In embodiments, the threat management facility100may protect the enterprise facility102from a plurality of threats to multiplatform computer resources in a plurality of locations and network configurations, with an integrated system approach.

In embodiments, the threat management facility100may be provided as a stand-alone solution. In other embodiments, the threat management facility100may be integrated into a third-party product. An application programming interface (e.g. a source code interface) may be provided such that the threat management facility100may be integrated. For instance, the threat management facility100may be stand-alone in that it provides direct threat protection to an enterprise or computer resource, where protection is subscribed to directly. Alternatively, the threat management facility100may offer protection indirectly, through a third-party product, where an enterprise may subscribe to services through the third-party product, and threat protection to the enterprise may be provided by the threat management facility100through the third-party product.

The security management facility122may include a plurality of elements that provide protection from malware to the enterprise facility102computer resources, including endpoint security and control, email security and control, web security and control, reputation-based filtering, control of unauthorized users, control of guest and non-compliant computers, and the like. The security management facility122may be a software application that may provide malicious code and malicious application protection to a client facility computing resource. The security management facility122may have the ability to scan the client facility files for malicious code, remove or quarantine certain applications and files, prevent certain actions, perform remedial actions and perform other security measures. In embodiments, scanning the client facility may include scanning some or all of the files stored to the client facility on a periodic basis, scanning an application when the application is executed, scanning files as the files are transmitted to or from the client facility, or the like. The scanning of the applications and files may be performed to detect known malicious code or known unwanted applications. In an embodiment, new malicious code and unwanted applications may be continually developed and distributed, and updates to the known code database may be provided on a periodic basis, on a demand basis, on an alert basis, or the like.

The security management facility122may provide email security and control, where security management may help to eliminate spam, viruses, spyware and phishing, control of email content, and the like. The email security and control of the security management facility122may protect against inbound and outbound threats, protect email infrastructure, prevent data leakage, provide spam filtering, and the like. In an embodiment, the security management facility122may provide for web security and control, where security management may help to detect or block viruses, spyware, malware, unwanted applications, help control web browsing, and the like, which may provide comprehensive web access control enabling safe, productive web browsing. Web security and control may provide Internet use policies, reporting on suspect devices, security and content filtering, active monitoring of network traffic, URI filtering, and the like. In an embodiment, the security management facility122may provide for network access control, which may provide control over network connections. Network control may stop unauthorized, guest, or non-compliant systems from accessing networks, and may control network traffic that may not be bypassed from the client level. In addition, network access control may control access to virtual private networks (VPN), where VPNs may be a communications network tunneled through another network, establishing a logical connection acting as a virtual network. In embodiments, a VPN may be treated in the same manner as a physical network.

The security management facility122may provide host intrusion prevention through behavioral based protection, which may guard against unknown threats by analyzing behavior before software code executes. Behavioral based protection may monitor code when it runs and intervene if the code is deemed to be suspicious or malicious. Advantages of behavioral based protection over runtime protection may include code being prevented from running. Whereas runtime protection may only interrupt code that has already partly executed, behavioral protection can identify malicious code at the gateway or on the file servers and delete the code before it can reach endpoint computers and the like.

The security management facility122may provide reputation filtering, which may target or identify sources of known malware. For instance, reputation filtering may include lists of URIs of known sources of malware or known suspicious IP addresses, or domains, say for spam, that when detected may invoke an action by the threat management facility100, such as dropping them immediately. By dropping the source before any interaction can initiate, potential threat sources may be thwarted before any exchange of data can be made.

In embodiments, information may be sent from the enterprise back to a third party, a vendor, or the like, which may lead to improved performance of the threat management facility100. For example, the types, times, and number of virus interactions that a client experiences may provide useful information for the preventions of future virus threats. This type of feedback may be useful for any aspect of threat detection. Feedback of information may also be associated with behaviors of individuals within the enterprise, such as being associated with most common violations of policy, network access, unauthorized application loading, unauthorized external device use, and the like. In embodiments, this type of information feedback may enable the evaluation or profiling of client actions that are violations of policy that may provide a predictive model for the improvement of enterprise policies.

The security management facility122may support overall security of the enterprise facility102network or set of networks of the enterprise facility102, e.g., by providing updates of malicious code information to the enterprise facility102network and associated client facilities. The updates may include a planned update, an update in reaction to a threat notice, an update in reaction to a request for an update, an update based on a search of known malicious code information, or the like. The administration facility134may provide control over the security management facility122when updates are performed. The updates may be automatically transmitted without direct control by the administration facility134, manually transmitted by the administration facility134, or otherwise distributed. The security management facility122may manage the receipt of malicious code descriptions from a provider, distribution of the malicious code descriptions to the enterprise facility102networks, distribution of the malicious code descriptions to client facilities, and so forth.

The threat management facility100may provide the policy management facility112that may be able to block non-malicious applications, such as VoIP, instant messaging, peer-to-peer file-sharing, and the like, that may undermine productivity and network performance within the enterprise facility102. The policy management facility112may be a set of rules or policies that may indicate the enterprise facility102access permissions for the client facility, such as access permissions associated with the network, applications, external computer devices, and the like. The policy management facility112may include a database, a text file, a combination of databases and text files, or the like. In an embodiment, a policy database may be a block list, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, or the like that may provide a list of the enterprise facility102external network locations/applications that may or may not be accessed by the client facility. The policy management facility112may include rules that may be interpreted with respect to the enterprise facility102network access request to determine if the request should be allowed. The rules may provide a generic rule for the type of access that may be granted. The rules may be related to the policies of the enterprise facility102for access rights for the client facility of the enterprise facility102. For example, there may be a rule that does not permit access to sporting websites. When a website is requested by the client facility, a security facility may access the rules within a policy facility to determine if the requested access is related to a sporting website. In an embodiment, the security facility may analyze the requested website to determine if the website matches with any of the policy facility rules.

The policy management facility112may be similar to the security management facility122but with the addition of the enterprise facility102wide access rules and policies that may be distributed to maintain control of client facility access to the enterprise facility102network resources. The policies may be defined for application type, subset of application capabilities, organization hierarchy, computer facility type, user type, network location, time of day, connection type, or the like. Policies may be maintained by the administration facility134, through the threat management facility100, in association with a third party, or the like. For example, a policy may restrict IM activity to only support personnel for communicating with customers. This may allow communication for departments requiring access, but may maintain the network bandwidth for other activities by restricting the use of IM to only the personnel that need access to instant messaging (IM) in support of the enterprise facility102. In an embodiment, the policy management facility112may be a stand-alone application, may be part of a server facility142of the network, may be part of the enterprise facility102network, may be part of the client facility, or the like.

The threat management facility100may provide configuration management, which may be similar to policy management, but may specifically examine the configuration set of applications, operating systems, hardware, and the like, and manage changes to their configurations. Assessment of a configuration may be made against a standard configuration policy, detection of configuration changes, remediation of improper configuration, application of new configurations, and the like. An enterprise may keep a set of standard configuration rules and policies which may represent the desired state of the device. For example, a client firewall may be running and installed, but in the disabled state, where remediation may be to enable the firewall. In another example, the enterprise may set a rule that disallows the use of USB disks, and sends a configuration change to all clients, which turns off USB drive access via a registry.

The threat management facility100may also provide for the removal of applications that potentially interfere with the operation of the threat management facility100, such as competitor products that may also be attempting similar threat management functions. The removal of such products may be initiated automatically whenever such products are detected. In the case where such applications are services are provided indirectly through a third-party product, the application may be suspended until action is taken to remove or disable the third-party product's protection facility.

Threat management against a quickly evolving malware environment may require timely updates, and thus the update facility120may be provided by the threat management facility100. In addition, the policy management facility112may also require update management (e.g., as provided by the update facility120herein described). The update management for the security management facility122and the policy management facility112may be provided directly by the threat management facility100, such as by a hosted system or in conjunction with the administration facility134. In embodiments, the threat management facility100may provide for patch management, where a patch may be an update to an operating system, an application, a system tool, or the like, where one of the reasons for the patch is to reduce vulnerability to threats.

The security management facility122and the policy management facility112may push information to the enterprise facility102network and/or client facility. The enterprise facility102network and/or client facility may also or instead pull information from the security management facility122and the server facility142of the policy management facility112, or there may be a combination of pushing and pulling of information between the server facilities of the security management facility122and the policy management facility112, network of the enterprise facility102, and client facilities, or the like. For example, the enterprise facility102network and/or client facility may pull information from the security management facility122, and the server facility142of the policy management facility112may request the information using the security management facility122and the policy management facility112update module; the request may be based on a certain time period, by a certain time, by a date, on demand, or the like. In another example, the server facility142of the security management facility122and the policy management facility112may push the information to the network of the enterprise facility102and/or client facility of the enterprise facility102by providing notification that there are updates available for download and then transmitting the information. The combination of the server facility142and security update module of the security management facility122may function substantially the same as the network server and policy update module of the policy management facility112by providing information to the enterprise facility102network and the client facility in a push or pull method. In an embodiment, the policy management facility112and the security management facility122management update modules may work in concert to provide information to the network of the enterprise facility102and/or client facility of the enterprise facility102for control of application execution. In an embodiment, the policy update module and security update module may be combined into a single update module.

As threats are identified and characterized, the threat management facility100may create definition updates that may be used to allow the threat management facility100to detect and remediate the latest malicious software, unwanted applications, configuration and policy changes, and the like. The threat definition facility114may contain threat identification updates, also referred to as definition files. A definition file may be a virus identity file that may include definitions of known or potential malicious code. The virus identity (IDE) definition files may provide information that may identify malicious code within files, applications, or the like. The definition files may be accessed by the security management facility122when scanning files or applications within the client facility for the determination of malicious code that may be within the file or application. The definition files may contain a number of commands, definitions, or instructions, to be parsed and acted upon, or the like. In embodiments, the client facility may be updated with new definition files periodically to provide the client facility with the most recent malicious code definitions; the updating may be performed on a set time period, may be updated on demand from the client facility, may be updated on demand from the network, may be updated on a received malicious code alert, or the like. In an embodiment, the client facility may request an update to the definition files from the update facility120within the network, may request updated definition files from a computing facility external to the network, updated definition files may be provided to the client facility from within the network, definition files may be provided to the client facility from an external computing facility from an external network, or the like.

The threat definitions facility114may provide timely updates of definition files information to the network, client facilities, and the like. New and altered malicious code and malicious applications may be continually created and distributed to networks worldwide. The definition files that maintain the definitions of the malicious code and malicious application information for the protection of the networks and client facilities may need continual updating to provide continual defense of the network and client facility from the malicious code and malicious applications. The definition files management may provide for automatic and manual methods of updating the definition files. In embodiments, the network may receive definition files and distribute the definition files to the network client facilities, the client facilities may receive the definition files directly, or the network and client facilities may both receive the definition files, or the like. In an embodiment, the definition files may be updated on a fixed periodic basis, on demand by the network and/or the client facility, as a result of an alert of a new malicious code or malicious application, or the like. In an embodiment, the definition files may be released as a supplemental file to an existing definition files to provide for rapid updating of the definition files.

In a similar manner, the security management facility122may be used to scan an outgoing file and verify that the outgoing file is permitted to be transmitted per the enterprise facility102rules and policies. By checking outgoing files, the security management facility122may be able discover malicious code infected files that were not detected as incoming files as a result of the client facility having been updated with either new definition files or information of the policy management facility112. The definition files may discover the malicious code infected file by having received updates of developing malicious code from the administration facility134, updates from a definition files provider, or the like. The policy management facility112may discover the malicious code infected file by having received new updates from the administration facility134, from a rules provider, or the like.

The threat management facility100may provide controlled access to the enterprise facility102networks. For instance, a manager of the enterprise facility102may want to restrict access to certain applications, networks, files, printers, servers, databases, or the like. In addition, the manager of the enterprise facility102may want to restrict user access based on certain criteria, such as the user's location, usage history, need to know, job position, connection type, time of day, method of authentication, client-system configuration, or the like. Network access rules may be developed for the enterprise facility102, or pre-packaged by a supplier, and managed by the threat management facility100in conjunction with the administration facility134.

The network access rules facility124may be responsible for determining if a client facility application should be granted access to a requested network location. The network location may be on the same network as the facility or may be on another network. In an embodiment, the network access rules facility124may verify access rights for client facilities from within the network or may verify access rights of computer facilities from external networks. When network access for a client facility is denied, the network access rules facility124may send an information file to the client facility containing. For example, the information sent by the network access rules facility124may be a data file. The data file may contain a number of commands, definitions, instructions, or the like to be parsed and acted upon through the remedial action facility128, or the like. The information sent by the network access rules facility124may be a command or command file that the remedial action facility128may access and take action upon.

The network access rules facility124may include databases such as a block list, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, an unacceptable network site database, an acceptable network site database, a network site reputation database, or the like of network access locations that may or may not be accessed by the client facility. Additionally, the network access rules facility124may incorporate rule evaluation; the rule evaluation may parse network access requests and apply the parsed information to network access rules. The network access rules facility124may have a generic set of rules that may be in support of network access policies of the enterprise facility102, such as denying access to certain types of websites, controlling instant messenger accesses, or the like. Rule evaluation may include regular expression rule evaluation, or other rule evaluation method for interpreting the network access request and comparing the interpretation to the established rules for network access. In an embodiment, the network access rules facility124may receive a rules evaluation request from the network access control and may return the rules evaluation to the network access control.

Similar to the threat definitions facility114, the network access rules facility124may provide updated rules and policies to the enterprise facility102. The network access rules facility124may be maintained by the administration facility134, using network access rules facility124management. In an embodiment, the administration facility134may be able to maintain a set of access rules manually by adding rules, changing rules, deleting rules, or the like. Additionally, the administration facility134may retrieve predefined rule sets from a remote provider of a set of rules to be applied to the enterprise facility102(e.g., the entire enterprise facility). The administration facility134may be able to modify the predefined rules as needed for a particular instance of the enterprise facility102using the network access rules facility124.

When a threat or policy violation is detected by the threat management facility100, the threat management facility100may perform or initiate the remedial action facility128. Remedial action may take a plurality of forms, such as terminating or modifying an ongoing process or interaction, sending a warning to a client or the administration facility134of an ongoing process or interaction, executing a program or application to remediate against a threat or violation, record interactions for subsequent evaluation, or the like. Remedial action may be associated with an application that responds to information that a client facility network access request has been denied. In an embodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may parse the data file, interpret the various aspects of the data file, and act on the parsed data file information to determine actions to be taken on an application requesting access to a denied network location. In an embodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may access the threat definitions to parse the data file and determine an action to be taken on an application requesting access to a denied network location. In an embodiment, the information received from the facility may be a command or a command file. The remedial action facility may carry out any commands that are received or parsed from a data file from the facility without performing any interpretation of the commands. In an embodiment, the remedial action facility may interact with the received information and may perform various actions on a client requesting access to a denied network location. The action may be one or more of continuing to block all requests to a denied network location, a malicious code scan on the application, a malicious code scan on the client facility, quarantine of the application, terminating the application, isolation of the application, isolation of the client facility to a location within the network that restricts network access, blocking a network access port from a client facility, reporting the application to the administration facility134, or the like.

Remedial action may be provided as a result of a detection of a threat or violation. The detection techniques facility130may include monitoring the enterprise facility102network or endpoint devices, such as by monitoring streaming data through the gateway, across the network, through routers and hubs, and the like. The detection techniques facility130may include monitoring activity and stored files on computing facilities, such as on server facilities142, desktop computers, laptop computers, other mobile computing devices, and the like. Detection techniques, such as scanning a computer's stored files, may provide the capability of checking files for stored threats, either in the active or passive state. Detection techniques, such as streaming file management, may provide the capability of checking files received at the network, gateway facility, client facility, and the like. This may provide the capability of not allowing a streaming file or portions of the streaming file containing malicious code from entering the client facility, gateway facility, or network. In an embodiment, the streaming file may be broken into blocks of information, and a plurality of virus identities may be used to check each of the blocks of information for malicious code. In an embodiment, any blocks that are not determined to be clear of malicious code may not be delivered to the client facility, gateway facility, or network.

Verifying that the threat management facility100is detecting threats and violations to established policy, may require the ability to test the system, either at the system level or for a particular computing component. The testing facility118may allow the administration facility134to coordinate the testing of the security configurations of client facility computing facilities on a network. The administration facility134may be able to send test files to a set of client facility computing facilities to test the ability of the client facility to determine acceptability of the test file. After the test file has been transmitted, a recording facility may record the actions taken by the client facility in reaction to the test file. The recording facility may aggregate the testing information from the client facility and report the testing information to the administration facility134. The administration facility134may be able to determine the level of preparedness of the client facility computing facilities by the reported information. Remedial action may be taken for any of the client facility computing facilities as determined by the administration facility134; remedial action may be taken by the administration facility134or by the user of the client facility.

The threat research facility132may provide a continuously ongoing effort to maintain the threat protection capabilities of the threat management facility100in light of continuous generation of new or evolved forms of malware. Threat research may include researchers and analysts working on known and emerging malware, such as viruses, rootkits a spyware, as well as other computer threats such as phishing, spam, scams, and the like. In embodiments, through threat research, the threat management facility100may be able to provide swift, global responses to the latest threats.

The threat management facility100may provide threat protection to the enterprise facility102, where the enterprise facility102may include a plurality of networked components, such as client facility, the server facility142, the administration facility134, the firewall138A, gateway, the network devices148(e.g., hubs and routers), the threat management appliance facility140A, desktop users, mobile users, and the like. In embodiments, it may be the endpoint computer security facility152, located on a computer's desktop, which may provide threat protection to a user, and associated instance of the enterprise facility102. In embodiments, the term endpoint may refer to a computer system that may source data, receive data, evaluate data, buffer data, or the like (such as a user's desktop computer as an endpoint computer), a firewall as a data evaluation endpoint computer system, a laptop as a mobile endpoint computer, a personal digital assistant or tablet as a hand-held endpoint computer, a mobile phone as an endpoint computer, or the like. In embodiments, endpoint may refer to a source or destination for data, including such components where the destination is characterized by an evaluation point for data, and where the data may be sent to a subsequent destination after evaluation. The endpoint computer security facility152may be an application loaded onto the computer platform or computer support component, where the application may accommodate the plurality of computer platforms and/or functional requirements of the component. For instance, a client facility computer may be one of a plurality of computer platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and the like, where the endpoint computer security facility152may be adapted to the specific platform, while maintaining a uniform product and product services across platforms. Additionally, components may have different functions to serve within the networked computer-based infrastructure of the enterprise facility102. For instance, computer support components provided as the network devices148(e.g., hubs and routers), the server facility142, the firewall facility138, and the like, may require unique security application software to protect their portion of the system infrastructure, while providing an element in an integrated threat management system that extends out beyond the threat management facility100to incorporate all computer resources under its protection.

The enterprise facility102may include a plurality of client facility computing platforms on which the endpoint computer security facility152is adapted. A client facility computing platform may be a computer system that is able to access a service on another computer, such as the server facility142, via a network. The server facility142of the client facility model may apply to a plurality of networked applications, such as a client facility connecting to the server facility142(e.g., an application server) of the enterprise facility102, a web browser client facility connecting to the server facility142(e.g., a web server), an e-mail client facility retrieving e-mail from the server facility142of an Internet service provider (e.g., the Internet service provider's mail storage servers), and the like. In embodiments, traditional large client facility applications may be switched to websites, which may increase the browser's role as a client facility. The clients144may be classified as a function of the extent to which they perform their own processing. For instance, the clients144are sometimes classified as a fat client facility or thin client facility. The fat client facility, also known as a thick client facility or rich client facility, may be a client facility that performs the bulk of data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily rely on the server facility142. The fat client facility may be most common in the form of a personal computer, where the personal computer may operate independent of any server facility142. Programming environments for fat clients may include CURI, Delphi, Droplets, Java, win32, 511, and the like. Thin clients may offer minimal processing capabilities, for instance, the thin client facility may primarily provide a graphical user interface provided by the server facility142(e.g., an application server facility), which may perform the bulk of any required data processing. Programming environments for thin clients may include JavaScript/AJAX, ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, and the like. The client facility may also be a mix of the two, such as processing data locally, but relying on the server facility142for data storage. As a result, this hybrid client facility may provide benefits from both the fat client facility type, such as multimedia support and high performance, and the thin client facility type, such as high manageability and flexibility. In embodiments, the threat management facility100, and associated endpoint computer security facility152, may provide seamless threat protection to the clients144, and client facility types, across the enterprise facility102.

The enterprise facility102may include a plurality of server facilities142, such as application servers, communications servers, file servers, database servers, proxy servers, mail servers, fax servers, game servers, web servers, and the like. The server facility142, which may also be referred to as a server facility application, server facility operating system, server facility computer, or the like, may be an application program or operating system that accepts client facility connections to service requests from the clients144. The server facility142application may run on the same computer as the client facility using it, or the server facility142and the client facility may be running on different computers and communicating across the network. Server facility142applications may be divided among server facility142computers, with the dividing depending upon the workload. For instance, under light load conditions all applications of the server facility142may run on a single computer and under heavy load conditions a single application of the server facility142may run on multiple computers. In embodiments, the threat management facility100may provide threat protection to server facilities142within the enterprise facility102as load conditions and application changes are made.

The server facility142may also be a threat management appliance facility140, where the threat management appliance facility140provides specific services onto the network. Though the threat management appliance facility140is the server facility142computer, that may be loaded with the server facility142operating system and the server facility142application, the enterprise facility102user may not need to configure it, as the configuration may have been performed by a third party. In an embodiment, the enterprise facility102appliance may be the server facility142appliance that has been configured and adapted for use with the threat management facility100, and located within the facilities of the enterprise facility102. The threat management appliance of the enterprise facility102may enable the enterprise facility102to administer an on-site local managed threat protection configuration, where the administration facility134may access the threat resources through an interface, such as a web portal. In an alternate embodiment, the enterprise facility102may be managed remotely from a third party, vendor, or the like, without the threat management appliance facility140located within the enterprise facility102. In this instance, the appliance functionality may be a shared hardware product between pluralities of the enterprise facility102. In embodiments, the threat management appliance facility140may be located at the enterprise facility102, where the enterprise facility102maintains a degree of control. In embodiments, a hosted service may be provided, where the threat management appliance facility140may still be an on-site black box to the enterprise facility102, physically placed there because of infrastructure requirements, but managed by a third party, vendor, or the like.

Simple appliances of the server facility142may also be utilized across the network infrastructure of the enterprise facility102, such as switches, routers, wireless routers, hubs and routers, gateways, print servers, net modems, and the like. These simple server facility appliances may not require configuration by the enterprise facility102, but may require protection from threats via the endpoint computer security facility152. These appliances may provide interconnection services within the enterprise facility102network, and therefore may advance the spread of a threat if not properly protected.

A client facility may be protected from threats from within the enterprise facility102network using a personal firewall, which may be a hardware firewall, software firewall, or combination of these, that controls network traffic to and from a client. The personal firewall may permit or deny communications based on a security policy. Personal firewalls may be designed for use by end-users, which may result in protection for only the computer on which it's installed. Personal firewalls may be able to control network traffic by providing prompts each time a connection is attempted and adapting security policy accordingly. Personal firewalls may also provide some level of intrusion detection, which may allow the software to terminate or block connectivity where it suspects an intrusion is being attempted. Other features that may be provided by a personal firewall may include alerts about outgoing connection attempts, control of program access to networks, hiding the client from port scans by not responding to unsolicited network traffic, monitoring of applications that may be listening for incoming connections, monitoring and regulation of incoming and outgoing network traffic, prevention of unwanted network traffic from installed applications, reporting applications that make connection attempts, reporting destination servers with which applications may be attempting communications, and the like. In embodiments, the personal firewall may be provided by the threat management facility100.

Another important component that may be protected by the endpoint computer security facility152is the firewall138A, which may be a hardware or software device that may be configured to permit, deny, or proxy data through a computer network that has different levels of trust in its source of data. For instance, an internal network of the enterprise facility102may have a high level of trust, because the source of all data has been sourced from within the enterprise facility102. An example of a low level of trust is the Internet154, because the source of data may be unknown. A zone with an intermediate trust level, situated between the Internet154and a trusted internal network, may be referred to as a “perimeter network.” Since firewall facilities represent boundaries between threat levels, the endpoint computer security facility152associated with the firewall138A may provide resources that may control the flow of threats at this enterprise facility102network entry point. The firewall138A, and associated endpoint computer security facility152, may also be associated with a network node that may be equipped for interfacing between networks that use different protocols. In embodiments, the endpoint computer security facility152may provide threat protection in a plurality of network infrastructure locations, such as at the enterprise facility102network entry point, i.e. the firewall138A or gateway; at the server facility142; at distribution points within the network, i.e. the network devices148(e.g., hubs and routers); at the desktop of client facility computers; and the like. In embodiments, the most effective location for threat detection may be at the endpoint computer security facility152at the user's computer desktop.

The interface between the threat management facility100and the enterprise facility102, and through the threat management appliance facility140A to embedded endpoint computer security facilities, may include a set of tools that may be the same for all enterprise implementations, but allow each enterprise to implement different controls. In embodiments, these controls may include both automatic actions and managed actions. Automatic actions may include downloads of the endpoint computer security facility152to components of the enterprise facility102, downloads of updates to existing endpoint computer security facilities of the enterprise facility102, uploaded network interaction requests from the enterprise facility102components to the threat management facility100, and the like. In embodiments, automatic interactions between the enterprise facility102and the threat management facility100may be configured by the threat management facility100and the administration facility134in the enterprise facility102. The administration facility134may configure policy rules that determine interactions, such as developing rules for accessing applications, as in who is authorized and when applications may be used; establishing rules for ethical behavior and activities; rules governing the use of entertainment software such as games, or personal use software such as IM and VoIP; rules for determining access to the enterprise facility102computing resources, including authentication, levels of access, risk assessment, and usage history tracking; rules for when an action is not allowed, such as whether an action is completely deigned or just modified in its execution; and the like. The administration facility134may also establish license management, which in turn may further determine interactions associated with a licensed application. In embodiments, interactions between the threat management facility100and the enterprise facility102may provide threat protection to the enterprise facility102by managing the flow of network data into and out of the enterprise facility102through automatic actions that may be configured by the threat management facility100or the administration facility134.

Client facilities within the enterprise facility102may be connected to the enterprise facility102network by way of the network devices148A that are wired or wireless network facilities148B. Client facilities connected to the enterprise facility102network via the wired network device148A or the wireless network facility148B may receive similar protection, as both connection types are ultimately connected to the same network of the enterprise facility102, with the same instance of the endpoint computer security facility152, and the same threat protected environment of the enterprise facility102. Mobile enterprise facility clients144B—F, because of their ability to connect to any network access point (e.g., one or more of the wireless network facility148B and the wireless network facility148D), may connect to the Internet154outside the enterprise facility102, and therefore outside the threat-protected environment of the enterprise facility102. In this instance, the mobile client facility (e.g., the clients144B—F), if not for the presence of the endpoint computer security facility152may experience a malware attack or perform actions counter to enterprise facility102established policies. In addition, there may be a plurality of ways for the threat management facility100to protect the mobile client facility (e.g., the clients144D-F) that is outside of the enterprise facility102and that has an embedded instance of the endpoint computer security facility152, such as by providing URI filtering in personal routers, using a web appliance as a DNS proxy, or the like. Mobile client facilities that are components of the enterprise facility102but temporarily outside connectivity with the enterprise facility102network may be provided with the same threat protection and policy control as client facilities inside the enterprise facility102. In addition, mobile the client facilities may receive the same interactions to and from the threat management facility100as client facilities inside the enterprise facility102, where the mobile client facilities may be considered a virtual extension of the enterprise facility102, receiving all the same services via respective embedded instances of the endpoint computer security facility152.

Interactions between the threat management facility100and the components of the enterprise facility102, including mobile client facility extensions of the enterprise facility102, may ultimately be connected through the Internet154. The threat management facility100downloads and upgrades to the enterprise facility102may be passed from the firewalled networks of the threat management facility100through to the endpoint computer security facility152equipped components of the enterprise facility102. In turn, the endpoint computer security facility152components of the enterprise facility102may upload policy and access requests back across the Internet154and through to the threat management facility100. The Internet154however, is also the path through which threats may be transmitted from their source. These network threats104may include threats from a plurality of sources, including without limitation, websites, e-mail, IM, VoIP, application software, and the like. These threats may attempt to attack a mobile enterprise client facility (e.g., the mobile enterprise facility clients144B-F) equipped with the endpoint computer security facility152, but in embodiments, as long as the mobile client facility is embedded with the endpoint computer security facility152, as described above, threats may have no better success than if the mobile client facility were inside the enterprise facility102.

However, if the mobile client facility were to attempt to connect into an unprotected connection point, such as at a secondary location108that is not a part of the enterprise facility102, the mobile client facility may be required to request network interactions through the threat management facility100, where contacting the threat management facility100may be performed prior to any other network action. In embodiments, the endpoint computer security facility152of the client144may manage actions in unprotected network environments such as when the client facility (e.g., the client144F) is in the secondary location108or connecting wirelessly to a non-enterprise facility wireless Internet connection, where the endpoint computer security facility152may dictate what actions are allowed, blocked, modified, or the like. For instance, if the endpoint computer security facility152of the client144is unable to establish a secured connection to the threat management facility100, the endpoint computer security facility152may inform the user of such, and recommend that the connection not be made. In the instance when the user chooses to connect despite the recommendation, the endpoint computer security facility152may perform specific actions during or after the unprotected connection is made, including running scans during the connection period, running scans after the connection is terminated, storing interactions for subsequent threat and policy evaluation, contacting the threat management facility100upon first instance of a secured connection for further actions and or scanning, restricting access to network and local resources, or the like. In embodiments, the endpoint computer security facility152may perform specific actions to remediate possible threat incursions or policy violations during or after the unprotected connection.

The secondary location108may have no endpoint computer security facilities as a part of its computer components, such as its firewalls138B, servers142B, clients144G, network facilities148C—D (e.g., hubs and routers), and the like. As a result, the computer components of the secondary location108may be open to threat attacks, and become potential sources of threats, as well as any mobile enterprise facility clients144B—F that may be connected to the network of the secondary location108. In this instance, these computer components may now unknowingly spread a threat to other components connected to the network.

Some threats may not come directly from the Internet154, such as from non-enterprise facility controlled mobile devices that are physically brought into the enterprise facility102and connected to the enterprise facility102client facilities. The connection may be made from direct connection with the client facility of the enterprise facility102, such as through a USB port, or in physical proximity with the client facility of the enterprise facility102such that a wireless facility connection can be established, such as through a Bluetooth connection. These physical proximity threats110may be another mobile computing device, a portable memory storage device, a mobile communications device, or the like, such as CDs and DVDs, memory sticks, flash drives, external hard drives, cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, digital cameras, point-to-point devices, digital picture frames, digital pens, navigation devices, tablets, appliances, and the like. A physical proximity threat110may have been previously infiltrated by network threats while connected to an unprotected network connection outside the enterprise facility102, and when connected to the enterprise facility102client facility, pose a threat. Because of their mobile nature, physical proximity threats110may infiltrate computing resources in any location, such as being physically brought into the enterprise facility102site, connected to an enterprise facility102client facility while that client facility is mobile, plugged into an unprotected client facility at the secondary location108, and the like. A mobile device, once connected to an unprotected computer resource, may become a physical proximity threat110. In embodiments, the endpoint computer security facility152may provide computing resources of the enterprise facility102with threat protection against physical proximity threats110, for instance, through scanning the device prior to allowing data transfers, through security validation certificates, through establishing a safe zone within the computing resource of the enterprise facility102to transfer data into for evaluation, and the like.

Having provided an overall context for threat detection, the description now turns to a brief discussion of an example of a computer system that may be used for any of the entities and facilities described above.

FIG.2illustrates a computer system. In general, a computer system200may include a computing device210connected to a network202, e.g., through an external device204. The computing device210may be or include any type of network endpoint or endpoints as described herein, e.g., with reference toFIG.1above. For example, the computing device210may include a desktop computer workstation. The computing device210may also or instead be any suitable device that has processes and communicates over the network202, including without limitation a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant, a tablet, a mobile phone, a television, a set top box, a wearable computer (e.g., watch, jewelry, or clothing), a home device (e.g., a thermostat or a home appliance controller), just as some examples. The computing device210may also or instead include a server, or it may be disposed on a server.

The computing device210may provide a physical or virtual device as a platform for any of the entities described in the threat management environment above with reference toFIG.1. For example, the computing device210may be a server, a client, a threat management facility, or any of the other facilities or computing devices described therein. In certain aspects, the computing device210may be implemented using hardware (e.g., in a desktop computer), software (e.g., in a virtual machine or the like), or a combination of software and hardware (e.g., with programs executing on the desktop computer). The computing device210may be a standalone device, a device integrated into another entity or device, a platform distributed across multiple entities, or a virtualized device executing in a virtualization environment.

The network202may include the network105described above, which may be any data network(s) or internetwork(s) suitable for communicating data and control information among participants in the computer system200. This may include public networks such as the Internet, private networks, and telecommunications networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network or cellular networks using third generation cellular technology (e.g., 3G or IMT-2000), fourth generation cellular technology (e.g., 4G, LTE. MT-Advanced, E-UTRA, etc.), fifth generation cellular technology (e.g., 5G), WiMax-Advanced (IEEE 802.16m)) and/or other technologies, as well as any of a variety of corporate area, metropolitan area, campus or other local area networks or enterprise networks, along with any switches, routers, hubs, gateways, and the like that might be used to carry data among participants in the computer system200. The network202may also include a combination of data networks, and need not be limited to a strictly public or private network.

The external device204may be any computer or other remote resource that connects to the computing device210through the network202. This may include threat management resources such as any of those contemplated above, gateways or other network devices, remote servers or the like containing content requested by the computing device210, a network storage device or resource, a device hosting malicious content, or any other resource or device that might connect to the computing device210through the network202.

The computing device210may include a processor212, a memory214, a network interface216, a data store218, and one or more input/output interfaces220. The computing device210may further include or be in communication with peripherals222and other external input/output devices224.

The processor212may be any as described herein, and may generally be capable of processing instructions for execution within the computing device210or the computer system200. The processor212may include a single-threaded processor or a multi-threaded processor. The processor212may be capable of processing instructions stored in the memory214or on the data store218.

The memory214may store information within the computing device210or the computer system200. The memory214may include any volatile or non-volatile memory or other computer-readable medium, including without limitation a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flash memory, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read-only Memory (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), registers, and so forth. The memory214may store program instructions, program data, executables, and other software and data useful for controlling operation of the computing device210and configuring the computing device210to perform functions for a user. The memory214may include a number of different stages and types for different aspects of operation of the computing device210. For example, a processor may include on-board memory and/or cache for faster access to certain data or instructions, and a separate, main memory or the like may be included to expand memory capacity as desired.

The memory214may, in general, include a non-volatile computer readable medium containing computer code that, when executed by the computing device210creates an execution environment for a computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of the foregoing, and/or code that performs some or all of the steps set forth in the various flow charts and other algorithmic descriptions set forth herein. While a single memory is depicted, it will be understood that any number of memories may be usefully incorporated into the computing device210. For example, a first memory may provide non-volatile storage such as a disk drive for permanent or long-term storage of files and code even when the computing device210is powered down. A second memory such as a random access memory may provide volatile (but higher speed) memory for storing instructions and data for executing processes. A third memory may be used to improve performance by providing even higher speed memory physically adjacent to the processor212for registers, caching and so forth.

The network interface216may include any hardware and/or software for connecting the computing device210in a communicating relationship with other resources through the network202. This may include remote resources accessible through the Internet, as well as local resources available using short range communications protocols using, e.g., physical connections (e.g., Ethernet), radio frequency communications (e.g., WiFi), optical communications, (e.g., fiber optics, infrared, or the like), ultrasonic communications, or any combination of these or communications through any other media that might be used to carry data between the computing device210and other devices. The network interface216may, for example, include a router, a modem, a network card, an infrared transceiver, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, a near field communications interface, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag reader, or any other data reading or writing resource or the like.

More generally, the network interface216may include any combination of hardware and software suitable for coupling the components of the computing device210to other computing or communications resources. By way of example and not limitation, this may include electronics for a wired or wireless Ethernet connection operating according to the IEEE 802.11 standard (or any variation thereof), or any other short or long range wireless networking components or the like. This may include hardware for short range data communications such as Bluetooth or an infrared transceiver, which may be used to couple to other local devices, or to connect to a local area network or the like that is in turn coupled to the network202such as the Internet. This may also or instead include hardware/software for a WiMax connection or a cellular network connection (using, e.g., CDMA, GSM, LTE, or any other suitable protocol or combination of protocols). The network interface216may be included as part of the input/output interfaces220or vice-versa.

The data store218may be any internal memory store providing a computer-readable medium such as a disk drive, an optical drive, a magnetic drive, a flash drive, or other device capable of providing mass storage for the computing device210. The data store218may store computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data for the computing device210or the computer system200in a non-volatile form for subsequent retrieval and use. For example, the data store218may store the operating system, application programs, program data, databases, files, and other program modules or other software objects and the like.

The input/output interface220may support input from and output to other devices that might couple to the computing device210. This may, for example, include serial ports (e.g., RS-232 ports), universal serial bus (USB) ports, optical ports, Ethernet ports, telephone ports, audio jacks, component audio/video inputs, HDMI ports, and so forth, any of which might be used to form wired connections to other local devices. This may also or instead include an infrared interface, RF interface, magnetic card reader, or other input/output system for coupling in a communicating relationship with other local devices. It will be understood that, while the network interface216for network communications is described separately from the input/output interface220for local device communications, these two interfaces may be the same, or may share functionality, such as where a USB port is used to attach to a WiFi accessory, or where an Ethernet connection is used to couple to a local network attached storage.

The computer system200may include a peripheral222for the computing device210such as any device used to provide information to or receive information from the computing device210. This may include human input/output (I/O) devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a mouse pad, a track ball, a joystick, a microphone, a foot pedal, a camera, a touch screen, a scanner, or other device that might be employed by the user230to provide input to the computing device210. This may also or instead include a display, a speaker, a printer, a projector, a headset or any other audiovisual device for presenting information to a user. The peripheral222may also or instead include a digital signal processing device, an actuator, or other device to support control of or communications with other devices or components. Other I/O devices suitable for use as a peripheral222include haptic devices, three-dimensional rendering systems, augmented-reality displays, magnetic card readers, and so forth. In one aspect, the peripheral222may serve as the network interface216, such as with a USB device configured to provide communications via short range (e.g., BlueTooth, WiFi, Infrared, RF, or the like) or long range (e.g., cellular data or WiMax) communications protocols. In another aspect, the peripheral222may provide a device to augment operation of the computing device210, such as a global positioning system (GPS) device, a security dongle, or the like. In another aspect, the peripheral may be a storage device such as a flash card, USB drive, or other solid state device, or an optical drive, a magnetic drive, a disk drive, or other device or combination of devices suitable for bulk storage. More generally, any device or combination of devices suitable for use with the computing device210may be used as a peripheral222as contemplated herein.

Other hardware226may be incorporated into the computing device210such as a co-processor, a digital signal processing system, a math co-processor, a graphics engine, a video driver, and so forth. The other hardware226may also or instead include expanded input/output ports, extra memory, additional drives (e.g., a DVD drive or other accessory), and so forth.

A system bus232or combination of busses may serve as an electromechanical platform for interconnecting components of the computing device210such as the processor212, memory214, the network interface216, the other hardware226, data store218, and input/output interface. As shown in the figure, each of the components of the computing device210may be interconnected using the system bus232or other communication mechanism for communicating information.

Methods and systems described herein can be realized using the processor212of the computer system200to execute one or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory214to perform predetermined tasks. In embodiments, the computing device210may be deployed as a number of parallel processors synchronized to execute code together for improved performance, or the computing device210may be realized in a virtualized environment where software on a hypervisor or other virtualization management facility emulates components of the computing device210as appropriate to reproduce some or all of the functions of a hardware instantiation of the computing device210.

FIG.3illustrates a threat management system as contemplated herein. In general, the system may include an endpoint302, a firewall304, a server306and a threat management facility308coupled to one another directly or indirectly through a data network305, all as generally described above. Each of the entities depicted inFIG.3may, for example, be implemented on one or more computing devices such as the computing device described above with reference toFIG.2. A number of systems may be distributed across these various components to support threat detection, such as a coloring system310, a key management system312and a heartbeat system314, each of which may include software components executing on any of the foregoing system components, and each of which may communicate with the threat management facility308and an endpoint threat detection agent320executing on the endpoint302to support improved threat detection and remediation.

The coloring system310may be used to label or ‘color’ software objects for improved tracking and detection of potentially harmful activity. The coloring system310may, for example, label files, executables, processes, network communications, data sources and so forth with any suitable label. A variety of techniques may be used to select static and/or dynamic labels for any of these various software objects, and to manage the mechanics of applying and propagating coloring information as appropriate. For example, a process may inherit a color from an application that launches the process. Similarly, a file may inherit a color from a process when it is created or opened by a process, and/or a process may inherit a color from a file that the process has opened. More generally, any type of labeling, as well as rules for propagating, inheriting, changing, or otherwise manipulating such labels, may be used by the coloring system310as contemplated herein.

The key management system312may support management of keys for the endpoint302to selectively permit or prevent access to content on the endpoint302on a file-specific basis, a process-specific basis, an application-specific basis, a user-specific basis, or any other suitable basis to prevent data leakage, and to support more fine-grained and immediate control over access to content on the endpoint302when a security compromise is detected. Thus, for example, if a particular process executing on the endpoint is compromised, or potentially compromised or otherwise under suspicion, keys to that process may be revoked to prevent, e.g., data leakage or other malicious activity.

The heartbeat system314may be used to provide periodic or aperiodic information from the endpoint302or other system components about system health, security, status, and so forth. A heartbeat may be encrypted or plaintext, or some combination of these, and may be communicated unidirectionally (e.g., from the endpoint302to the threat management facility308) or bidirectionally (e.g., between the endpoint302and the server306, or any other pair of system components) on any useful schedule. A suitable heartbeat system is described in greater detail below with reference toFIG.4.

In general, these various monitoring and management systems may cooperate to provide improved threat detection and response. For example, the coloring system310may be used to evaluate when a particular process is potentially opening inappropriate files, and a potential threat may be confirmed based on an interrupted heartbeat from the heartbeat system314. The key management system312may then be deployed to revoke keys to the process so that no further files can be opened, deleted or otherwise modified. More generally, the cooperation of these systems enables a wide variety of reactive measures that can improve detection and remediation of potential threats to an endpoint.

FIG.4illustrates a threat management system using heartbeats. In general, a system400may include an endpoint402, a gateway404, a threat management system406, and an enterprise management system408that manages an enterprise including the endpoint402, the gateway404, and one or more additional endpoints410. Each of these components may be configured with suitable programming to participate in the detection and remediation of an advanced persistent threat (APT) or other malware threat as contemplated herein.

The endpoint402may be any of the endpoints described herein, or any other device or network asset that might join or participate in an enterprise network. The endpoint402may contain a threat412such as an advanced persistent threat, virus, or similar malware that resides on the endpoint402. The threat412may have reached the endpoint402in a variety of ways, and may have been placed manually or automatically on the endpoint402by a malicious source. It will be understood that the threat412may take any number of forms and have any number of components. For example, the threat412may include an executable file that can execute independently, or the threat412may be a macro, plug-in, or the like that executes within another application. Similarly, the threat412may manifest as one or more processes or threads executing on the endpoint402. The threat412may install from a file on the endpoint402or a file remote from the endpoint402, and the threat412may create one or more other files such as data files or the like while executing. Advanced persistent threats can be particularly difficult to detect and remediate, and the systems and methods contemplated herein can advantageously provide improved sensitivity to such threats, as well as enabling improved remediation strategies. However, the systems and methods contemplated herein may also or instead be used to detect and remediate other types of malware threats. As such, in this context references to a particular type of threat (e.g., an advanced persistent threat) should be understood to generally include any type of malware or other threat to an endpoint or enterprise unless a more specific threat or threat type is explicitly provided or otherwise clear from the context.

The threat412may be analyzed by one or more threat countermeasures on the endpoint402such as a whitelisting filter414that approves each item of code before executing on the endpoint402and prevents execution of non-whitelisted code. The endpoint402may also include an antivirus engine416or other malware detection software that uses any of a variety of techniques to identify malicious code by reputation or other characteristics. A runtime detection engine418may also monitor executing code to identify possible threats. More generally, any of a variety of threat detection techniques may be applied to the threat412before and during execution. In general, a threat412may evade these and other security measures and begin executing as a process420on the endpoint402.

Network traffic422from the process420may be monitored and logged by a traffic monitor424on the endpoint402. The traffic monitor424may, for example, logs a time and a source of each network request from the endpoint402. Where the endpoint402is within an enterprise network, the network traffic422may pass through the gateway404in transit to a data network such as the Internet. While the gateway404may be logically or physically positioned between the endpoint402and an external data network, it will be understood that other configurations are possible. For example, where the endpoint402is associated with an enterprise network but operating remotely, the endpoint402may form a VPN or other secure tunnel or the like to the gateway404for use of a threat management system406, enterprise management system408, and any other enterprise resources.

The endpoint402may use a heartbeat426to periodically and securely communicate status to the gateway404. The heartbeat426may be created by a health monitor428within the endpoint402, and may be transmitted to a remote health monitor430at the gateway404. The health monitor428may monitor system health in a variety of ways, such as by checking the status of individual software items executing on the endpoint402, checking that antivirus and other security software is up to date (e.g., with current virus definition files and so forth) and running correctly, checking the integrity of cryptographic key stores, checking for compliance with enterprise security policies, and checking any other hardware or software components of the endpoint402as necessary or helpful for health monitoring. The health monitor428may thus condition the issuance of a heartbeat426on a satisfactory status of the endpoint402according to any suitable criteria, enterprise policies, and other evaluation techniques.

The heartbeat426may be secured in any suitable manner so that the remote health monitor430can reliably confirm the source of the heartbeat426and the status of the endpoint402. To this end, the heartbeat426may be cryptographically signed or secured using a private key so that the remote health monitor430can authenticate the origin of the heartbeat426using a corresponding public key. In one aspect, the heartbeat426may include a combination of plaintext information and encrypted information, such as where the status information for the endpoint is provided in plaintext while a digital signature for authentication is cryptographically secured. In another aspect, all of the information in the heartbeat426may be encrypted.

In one aspect, a key vault432may be provided on the endpoint to support cryptographic functions associated with a secure heartbeat. An obfuscated key vault432may support numerous useful functions, including without limitation, private key decryption, asymmetric signing, and validation with a chain of trust to a specific root validation certificate. A variety of suitable key management and cryptographic systems are known in the art and may be usefully employed to a support the use of a secure heartbeat as contemplated herein. The system may support a secure heartbeat in numerous ways. For example, the system may ensure that signing and decryption keys can only be used in authorized ways and inside an intended Access Control mechanism. The system may use “anti-lifting” techniques to ensure that a signing key can only be used when the endpoint is healthy. The system may ensure that attacking software cannot, without first reverse-engineering the key vault432, extract the original key material. The system may also usefully ensure that an attacker cannot undetectably replace the public keys in a root certificate store, either directly or indirectly, such as in an attack that tries to cause the code to validate against a different set of root keys without directly replacing any keys in the root store.

Robustness of the heartbeat426may usefully provide defensive mechanisms against reverse engineering of obfuscated content (e.g., the private key material stored in key vault432, the code used to validate the correct running of the remainder of the systems as part of the heartbeat426code itself) and any anti-lifting protections to prevent malware from directly using the endpoint402(or the health monitor428on the endpoint402) to continue to send out signed heartbeat packets (e.g. stating that “all is well” with the endpoint) after security mechanisms have been impaired, disabled, or otherwise compromised in any way. Lifting in this manner by malicious code can be materially mitigated by providing statistical validation (e.g., with checksums of code) of call stacks, calling processes, and core processes. Likewise, statistical checks as well as checksum integrations into the cryptographic calculations may protect against code changes in the heartbeat426code itself.

A variety of useful techniques may be employed to improve security of the key vault432and the heartbeat426. For example, the system may use domain shifting so that original key material is inferred based on hardware and software properties readily available to the key vault432, and to ensure that key material uses non-standard algorithms. Software properties may, for example, include readily determined system values such as hashes of nearby code. In another aspect, the keys may be domain shifted in a manner unique to the endpoint402so that the manner of statistical validation of call stacks and core software is unique to the endpoint402. Further the key vault may be provisioned so that a public key stored in the key vault432is signed with a certificate (or into a certificate chain) that can be externally validated by a network appliance or other trusted third party or directly by the health monitor.

The heartbeat426may encode any useful status information, and may be transmitted from the endpoint402on any desired schedule including any periodic, aperiodic, random, deterministic, or other schedule. Configured in this manner, the heartbeat426can provide secure, tamper-resistant instrumentation for status of the endpoint402, and in particular an indication that the endpoint402is online and uncompromised. A disappearance of the heartbeat426from the endpoint402may indicate that the endpoint402has been compromised; however, this may also simply indicate that the endpoint402has been powered off or intentionally disconnected from the network. Thus, other criteria may be used in addition to the disappearance or interruption of the heartbeat426to more accurately detect malicious software. Some such techniques are described below, but it will be understood that this may include any supplemental information that might tend to make an attack on the endpoint402more or less likely. For example, if the heartbeat426is interrupted but the endpoint402is still sourcing network traffic, then an inference might suitably be made that the endpoint402is compromised.

The threat management system406may, in general, be any of the threat management systems described herein. The enterprise management system408generally provides tools and interfaces for administration of the enterprise and the one or more additional endpoints410and other resources or assets attached thereto. It will be understood that, the functions of the threat management system406and the enterprise management system408may vary, and general threat management and administration functions may be distributed in a variety of ways between and among these and other components. This is generally indicated inFIG.4as a threat management facility450that includes the threat management system406and the enterprise management system408. It will be understood that either or both of these systems may be administered by third parties on behalf of the enterprise, or managed completely within the enterprise, or some combination of these, all without departing from the scope of this disclosure. It will similarly be understood that a reference herein to a threat management facility450is not intended to imply any particular combination of functions or components, and shall only be understood to include such functions or components as explicitly stated in a particular context, or as necessary to provide countermeasures for advanced persistent threats as contemplated herein.

FIG.5illustrates a system500with a new device (e.g., endpoints504, device510) joining a network502(e.g., an enterprise network). The system500may include a network502such as any of the enterprise networks described herein, or any other data network, combination of data networks or the like coupling the endpoints504such as any of the endpoints504described herein in, which are shown in a communicating relationship with one another. The system500may also include a threat management facility506such as any of the threat management facilities described herein to administer enterprise network policies and manage network security for devices such as the endpoints504within the network502. Although not depicted inFIG.5, it will be appreciated that the network502may also include any number of additional network devices, hardware, virtual machines, servers, routers, gateways, wireless and wired networks, virtual private network (VPN) connections, and so forth.

The system500may include a portal508for managing entry of new devices onto the network502. When a new device such as the device510connects to the network502, e.g., by connecting to a router physically through an Ethernet port or by connecting wirelessly to a wireless access point or other wireless air interface, the device510may be directed to the portal508to manage whether and how the device510is permitted to use the network502and network resources. For example, network requests from the device510may be directed to the portal508. This may, for example, be accomplished through an HTTP redirect or other suitable technique for handling HTTP connections within the network502.

The portal508may receive network requests from new devices and provide entry management capability. It will be appreciated that while the portal508is depicted as a separate entity, the portal508may be implemented within the threat management facility506or any other network device such as a switch, router, gateway, firewall, wireless access point, or other device associated with the network502. In some cases, the portal508may be interposed between the system500and the Internet. In some cases, the portal508may be in communication with devices that are interposed between the system500and the Internet, such as a gateway or firewall, allowing for observation or interception of network traffic to or from the device510. The portal508may recognize new devices using any suitable techniques including, without limitation, by maintaining a table of known devices and corresponding identifiers or by using a MAC address, DUID, or other machine identifier. In another aspect, the portal508may receive a heartbeat (or, if the device510does not initially offer a heartbeat, the portal508may explicitly request a heartbeat) that may be digitally signed or otherwise cryptographically secured in a manner that permits authentication of the identity of the device510, e.g., with reference to an external trust authority. The portal508may request heartbeat information associated with the device510from another network device, such as a gateway, the threat management facility506, or one or more of the endpoints504that may have access to heartbeat information from the device510. The heartbeat information may indicate the status of the device510whether the device currently is being managed and with respect to the status and capabilities of the device.

Where the device510does not initially provide identifying information, the portal508may attempt to identify the device510using any suitable techniques. This may include active techniques, passive techniques, or any combination of these.

For example, active techniques may include any techniques actively managed by the portal508(and/or threat management facility506) for querying or interacting with the device510. In one aspect, for a device that has a user interface, the portal508may present a web page to the device510that interactively guides a user of the device510through a network entry procedure. Thus, the portal508may include a web portal or other server, content or the like for interactively identifying the device510in a user-guided process. For example, the web page may request credentials that identify the device510, or a user of the device510, as an authorized or recognized network participant. Where the device or user is unrecognized, the web page may guide a user through a registration process that gathers sufficient information to identify the user going forward, and/or that brings the device510into compliance with a network security policy for an enterprise network, e.g., by checking for the presence of security software, installing a local security agent, checking for software versions and updates, scanning for viruses and so forth. The portal508may also or instead provide a cookie or other identifiable file or data object to the device510that the device510can later use to identify itself on the network502.

Active techniques also may include any techniques actively managed by the device510. For example, the device510may initiate communications on the network by generating and communicating a secure heartbeat, or by launching a local security agent that handshakes with the portal508or threat management facility506. As noted above, various active techniques may also be used in combination. For example, the device510may initiate communications on the network502by communicating data packets through a wireless access point or the like. When the device510is directed to the portal508as a new device, the portal508may initially attempt to programmatically verify the identity of the device510, e.g., by attempting to query a local security agent on the device510. If this is successful, the local security agent may respond to the query from the portal508by generating and responding with a secure heartbeat that can be used by the portal508to verify the identity of the device510. More generally, any techniques by which the portal508and the device510can cooperate to identify reliably the device510and/or to admit the device510onto the network502may be used to control access to the network502as contemplated herein.

Active techniques also may include actively testing the response of the device510to network requests. For example, if the device510provides a web server, the web server on the device510may be queried for information. A management page of the device510, for example, may provide information about the type of the device510, a configuration of the device510, an identifier for the device510(e.g., serial number), and so forth. For example, if the device510responds to Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) requests, the response of the device510to SNMP requests may be determined, potentially providing information about the type of the device510, the configuration of the device510, an identifier for the device510, and so forth. Likewise, for any other protocol, whether common (e.g., telnet, ftp, ssh, sftp, ntp, dns, smb, etc.) or device-specific (e.g., remote control protocol specific to a brand of television, in instances in which such a protocol is applicable) a network request made to the device510may provide information about the device510, and so an opportunity to determine the type of device510and/or the status of the device510. For example, if the device510provides a capability to communicate via ssh, the ssh protocol may include the device510providing a key that is relatively unique to the device510. Network requests may be originated by the portal508or the portal508may request that another device (e.g., firewall, gateway, one or more of the endpoints504, the threat management facility506) initiate one or more network requests, and the response(s) provided to the portal508. For example, if the device makes a web request, a response to the web request may be intercepted, and detection code (e.g., a snippet, cookie, etc.) may be injected into the response. In some cases, a scan of network ports may be undertaken. In some cases, certain port(s) may be tested with initial request(s), and other request(s) may be initiated based on the results from the initial requests, for example as determined by information in the database512of the device510.

Passive techniques may also or instead be used to identify the device510in a manner sufficiently reliable for admission onto the network502. This may include, for example, various techniques for fingerprinting or otherwise identifying the device510based on what the device510reports about itself including but not limited to network traffic, packet header information, status reports or other information that can be obtained from communications by the device510or among the device510and other devices on the network502. For example, the portal508may analyze network traffic to or from the device510. The portal508may also or instead analyze network information for the device510such as the MAC address, a machine name or identifier, an IP address, a default gateway address, DNS servers and so forth. The portal508may also or instead analyze information in network packet headers such as a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port number, a destination port number, and an IP protocol number. The portal508may also or instead analyze DHCP or DNS requests made by the device. Devices may include an identifier, such as a MAC address or an IPv6 DHCP Unique Identifier (DUID).

The portal508may also or instead observe an authentication by the device510to a server within the system500or outside of the system500. This may include observing the network address of the server. This may include observing HTTP or HTTPS requests made by the device510. This may include HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) pinning. This may include observing the communication of authentication credentials provided by the device510. This may include observing the results of authentication, for example, whether authentication was successful, by observing the traffic communicated following the authentication. This may include interposing a gateway in between (i.e., a man-in-the-middle between) the device510and a server when the device510engages in an encrypted protocol to observe encrypted communication between the device510and a server.

The portal508may store a database512of devices that are known to the network502or threat management facility506, such as devices that have been previously authorized to use the network502by a network administrator, or devices that have been admitted by the portal508using, e.g., the techniques described herein. When a new device such as the device510appears on the network502, the device510may be redirected to the portal508where the portal508may initially compare the device510to the list of devices stored in the database512and make a preliminary decision whether to admit the device510based on the device identity or, where appropriate, credentials provided by the device510or a user of the device510. The portal508may take active or passive measures to identify the device510. Where the device510is not recognized, or the portal508otherwise is unable or refuses to admit the device510to the network502based on available information, the portal508may initiate a number of steps to conditionally admit the device510to the network502. The portal508may also store device information for refused devices in the database512and maintain a list of such devices for future reference or for further action as contemplated herein.

It will be appreciated that, while the foregoing description contemplates admitted and non-admitted devices, any number of intermediate categories may also or instead be provided. For example, known and previously authorized devices for an enterprise may be configured to provide a secure heartbeat or the like to the portal508or threat management facility506, and one list may be maintained for these devices that provide a heartbeat. Other devices may be refused entry on to the network502, and the database512may provide an additional list of these devices (or they may be identified with a suitable, corresponding attribute in an aggregate list for all devices). Other devices may not be recognized but may, after scanning or the like, be determined to be sufficiently safe by the portal508or the threat management facility506, e.g., by being otherwise in compliance with a security policy for the enterprise network502. In some cases, limited network access may be granted to facilitate limited operation of the device510and, potentially, further information gathering and observation. A third, fourth, or more categories may be provided and a list of corresponding devices and network access restrictions may be stored in the database512. Other categories, such as devices requiring human, administrative review or devices placed in a pool to be claimed by a device owner, may also or instead be stored in the database512, along with any other categories necessary or useful for managing entry into an enterprise network as contemplated herein.

For example, in instances in which the device510is not recognized to be managed or manageable, the device510may be granted access to a limited set of high-reputation internet addresses, but not permitted to interact with other devices on the network. This may be accomplished, for example, with network configuration that limits communication to and from the device510. This may be accomplished, for example, by assigning the device510to a VLAN that has limited network access to or from other devices on the network, or only to certain other devices and the portal508. This may be accomplished by other techniques for preventing communication among devices on a network.

In one aspect, the portal508may present a landing page such as an HTML, page for network traffic from new devices appearing on the network, e.g., via an HTTP redirects form another network device. The landing page may provide a human-readable interactive interface for admitting the device510onto the network502. This may, for example, initiate steps such as download and execution of an antivirus scanner by the device510. This may also or instead include download and installation of a local security agent by the device510. This may also or instead include a scan of the device for compliance with a security policy, such as by checking for current application versions, security patches and so forth on the device510.

Where the portal508does not receive a response to the landing page, or the landing page is not requested by or presented to the device510for some other reason, the portal508may use other techniques such as any of those described above to attempt to identify the device510. While the absence of a response may have any of a number of user-related causes, such as where a user chooses not to join the network502, or is a malicious user that does not wish to be identified, the absence of a response may also result from limitations of the device510itself. For example, a variety of devices such as smart watches, ebooks, network-capable appliances or utilities and so forth, may have wireless networking capabilities but no graphical user interface for interacting with network content.

In some implementations, for example, where no response to the landing page is received, or where the device510is not recognized as a device capable of supporting user interaction with the landing page, or where the device510is recognized as a device that is not capable of supporting user interaction with the landing page, the device510may be stored in a list of pending devices in the database512. In one aspect, the portal508may usefully publish a list of such pending devices, e.g., on an unclaimed device page, so that authorized users of the enterprise network can claim the devices and register them as safe for use on the network502or otherwise identify them for subsequent handling within the context of the network502. Thus, a user who wishes to add the device510to the network502, even where the device510cannot independently support user interactions for registration through the portal508, may visit the unclaimed device page, scan unclaimed devices for the device510, and then register or otherwise identify the device510so that the device510can be admitted onto the network502.

In another aspect, network entry decisions may be provided to an administrator. This may include an entry in the manner described above. For example, where an unknown device attempts to access the network502using the landing page described above, an admission decision may be presented to the administrator through any suitable interface, either before or after the device510has completed steps that are otherwise required to bring the device510into compliance with an enterprise network security policy. The administrator may usefully receive a wide range of contextual information to assist in making a network admission decision including machine identification information, fingerprint(s), cookies, network addresses, network traffic patterns and any of the other information described herein.

In some implementations, a new device may be associated with a known or managed device, or with a user associated with the known or managed device, based on the time that the new device and the known device join the network. A device may be associated with another device or with a user using any suitable technique. For example, a user identifier or authentication credentials used by a user on more than one device may be detected. Further, or instead, network addresses or URLs accessed may be relatively unique to a user. Still further or instead, communication (e.g., administration or operational traffic) between the new device and another device may be detected on the network.

In some implementations, patterns or timing of network traffic may be useful for managing devices that require configuration. For example, if a new device is observed to join a network at the same time as one or more other devices of a user, it may be the case that the user has just arrived in the location of the network with his or her devices, including the new device. It may be that the new device was just configured by the user. Some IoT devices initially provide a private wireless network, and an owner of the device can connect a client (e.g., a phone or a laptop) to the provided private wireless network and communicate with the device using the private wireless network. Once connected to the private wireless network, for example, using an application or a web browser on the client, the owner can configure the new device to use the enterprise wireless network. Upon configuration, the new device may connect to the specified enterprise network. The owner may then change the client (e.g., phone or laptop) also to connect to the enterprise wireless network. When the known client device joins the network within a time threshold as the new device, the known client device and the new device may be identified as associated with one another. For example, messages may be directed to the owner of the known device (e.g., email, text messages, through a user interface, redirection of web traffic to the portal) to claim the new device in the portal. For example, an association with a known device or an owner may be provided on the portal to aid the owner or an administrator in identifying the new device.

FIG.6is a flowchart of an exemplary method600of managing admission of unrecognized devices onto an enterprise network. In general, unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, the exemplary method600may be implemented by any one or more of the devices and systems described herein. Thus, for example, the exemplary method600may be implemented by the system500(FIG.5). As a more specific example, the system may include one or more computing devices such as one or more of the threat management facility506and the portal508(and endpoints within the enterprise network using same), each including a processor and a memory, the memory storing non-transitory computer executable instructions that, when executing on the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform one or more steps of the exemplary method600. As described in greater detail below, the exemplary method600may address the challenge of admitting unrecognized devices onto an enterprise network while managing risk exposure of a set of managed devices on the enterprise network, e.g., by bringing the unrecognized device(s) into compliance with a security policy for the enterprise network before permitting use of network resources and connectivity within the enterprise network.

As shown in step602, the exemplary method600may include detecting a device on the enterprise network. The device may be any one or more of various different devices capable of network communication and, more specifically, capable of communicating or attempting to communicate over the enterprise network. It should be appreciated that devices capable of such network communication are ubiquitous and may have a variety of different features, depending, for example, on a particular application associated with the device. Thus, examples of such devices may include, but are not limited to, any one or more of the devices described herein. By way of example, therefore, the device may be one or more of a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, a wearable device (e.g., a watch), an appliance (e.g., a refrigerator, a thermostat, a smart speaker), and other similar devices.

Detection of the device on the enterprise network may be based on detecting connection of the device to the enterprise network. Such a connection may be any one or more of the different connections described herein. More specifically, connection of the device to the enterprise network may include a physical connection through an Ethernet port and/or a wireless connection to a wireless access point or other short range wireless interface. Detection of the device may include detection by another device on the network, such as an endpoint, router, gateway, firewall, as a few examples, that may monitor communication on the network. Detection of the device may include detection by a server receiving a request from the device, for example, for an Internet Protocol (IP) address using the DHCP protocol. Detection of the device may include detection by a server or an endpoint that is tracking the other devices on its local network by their network address (e.g., IP address or MAC address).

As shown in step603, the exemplary method600may optionally include sending a request to the device for a heartbeat indicative of an identity of the device or the security status of the device. This request may be sent from the portal described herein, or from a threat management facility or other security resource for the enterprise network. For example, as described herein, when the device is directed to the portal as an unrecognized device, the portal may initially attempt to query a local security agent on the device. If the device has an appropriate local security agent installed, the device can respond to the query by generating and responding with a heartbeat. In turn the presence or absence of the heartbeat in response to the query from the portal may form a basis for the determination in step604regarding whether the device is one of a set of managed devices.

If the device is a managed device, when the device connects to the network, the device may begin communicating with a threat management or other security resource for the enterprise network. In the back-and-forth of communication, the threat management or other security resource may send a request to the device for a heartbeat indicative of an identity of the device or a security status of the device.

In some implementations, the portal may request that a gateway or threat management facility that receives heartbeats from devices forward any heartbeat from the device to the portal. The portal may request the heartbeat itself or information communicated by the device in the heartbeat, such as identity or security status.

As shown in step604, the exemplary method600may include determining whether the device is one of a set of managed devices for the enterprise network. In certain implementations, determining whether the device is one of the managed devices of the set of managed devices for the enterprise network may be based on whether the device provides a heartbeat to the threat management facility, with the presence of the heartbeat generally identifying the device as one of the managed devices of the set of managed devices and, similarly, the absence of the heartbeat generally identifying the device as an unmanaged device. By way of example, heartbeat communication with the threat management facility may include use of any of the heartbeats described herein, such as any one or more of the various different heartbeats described above with respect toFIG.4. Thus, the heartbeat may be digitally signed or otherwise cryptographically secured to prevent unauthorized access to heartbeat data and/or to authenticate identity of the source device, as described herein.

While determining whether the device is one of the managed devices may be based on the presence of absence of a heartbeat, it should be more generally appreciated that additional or alternative techniques for identifying a managed device may be used. As an example, a firewall may detect traffic from an unknown or unrecognized internal network address such as an unknown internal IP address. This may include any IP address or other network address associated with a device that is not in a database of known devices and/or does not carry endpoint protection. More generally, this may include any of the techniques described herein for distinguishing unmanaged devices including endpoint-side techniques, server/firewall-side techniques, active techniques (e.g., through query and response), passive techniques (e.g., through fingerprinting or the like) as well as combinations of the foregoing.

As shown in in step606, when the device is determined to be one of the managed devices of a set of managed devices for the enterprise network, the exemplary method600may include permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network. As used in this context, permission to communicate over the enterprise network may include partial or complete permission to communicate over the enterprise network, as may be appropriate for managing, for example, different types of devices, different types of users, and/or devices of varying provenance. Thus, for example, devices permitted to communicate over the enterprise network based on detection of a heartbeat may be permitted more complete access to the enterprise network as compared to devices directed to a portal and subsequently permitted to communicate over the enterprise network, as described below. Devices may have network communication restricted through use of routing policies, a VLAN, directing other devices, or other methods.

As also shown in step606, when the device is not one of a set of managed devices, the exemplary method600may include carrying out the step608of determining manageability of the device. In general, determination of manageability of the device may be based on any one or more of various techniques useful for determining characteristics of a device. Such techniques may span general categories of passive techniques, active techniques, and combinations thereof, as described herein.

In certain implementations, determining manageability of the device may include identifying the type or category of device and, optionally, comparing the type or category of device to a database of manageable and/or unmanageable types or categories of devices. For example, devices determined to lack a user interface suitable for interacting with a portal (e.g., for interacting with a landing page administered by the portal) may be categorized as unmanageable. Devices determined to be unmanageable may be denied access or may otherwise be restricted with respect to the enterprise network at least until such time as additional information related to the device can be obtained, as described in greater detail below.

Determining the type or category of the device, and thus determining whether the device is manageable, may be based on a fingerprint associated with the device and/or on any other form of identification of the device based on what the device reports about itself. The fingerprint may be based, for instances, on network traffic to or from the device. For example, the device may be identified based at least in part on detecting updater traffic. That is, in instances in which the device attempts to access a site associated with updates for a smart speaker, such information may be useful in identifying the device as a smart speaker. In instances in which the device attempts to access a site associated with updates for a particular operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows), such information may be useful in identifying the device as a Windows-based machine. Further, or instead, the identification of the device may be based on one or more of packet header information or status reports obtained from communications by or with the device.

In some implementations, determining manageability of the device may include determining the response of the device to network communication, for example, by testing ports of the device, or other techniques. As used in this context, ports of the device should be understood to refer generally to logical sub-addresses for a network connection that can be addressed and used independently. As a matter of convention, these ports may be allocated to particular protocols, process types, network services, resources types, users and so forth. Responses of a device to testing on these ports may form at least a partial basis for determining manageability of the device. For example, ports identifying specific service types, when open and responsive on the device, may be useful for identifying the type or category of the device.

As shown in in step610, if the device is an unrecognized device and determined to be manageable by the threat management facility according to step608, the exemplary method600may include directing the device to a portal. For example, directing the device to the portal may include proxy redirection of the device to the portal, or any other form of network forwarding or redirection suitable for directing the device to the portal. In general, the portal may manage admission of the unrecognized devices onto the enterprise network. The portal may, for example, advantageously provide a user-friendly way of providing support, updating, and the like, to unrecognized devices that are new to the enterprise network, or that have been locked out of the enterprise network or otherwise denied access to network resources. Further, or instead, the portal may facilitate managing admission of unrecognized devices onto the enterprise network while making efficient use of administrator resources, e.g., by facilitating automatic network registration without human administrative oversight, or by gathering sufficient contextual information for a human administrator to make informed decisions about admitting new devices onto the enterprise network.

As shown in step612, the exemplary method600may include, at the portal, delivering device management capability to the device. It should be understood that delivery of such capability to the device may depend, generally, on the type of device to which the management capability is being delivered. As an example, a mode of delivery of device management capability may differ depending on whether the device is of a type including a user interface. Further, or instead, once the device management capability is delivered to the device, a degree of access granted to the device to communicate over the enterprise network may depend on the type of device. By way of example, therefore, a device including a user interface may be granted less restricted access to the enterprise network as compared to access granted to a device without a user interface.

In certain instances, delivering device management capability to the device may include presenting a landing page to the device. In general, the landing page may have any functionality useful for managing access of an unrecognized device to the network. Thus, for example, the landing page may include interactively guiding a user of the device through a network entry procedure, with the interaction including one or more of registering the device, receiving user login credentials, downloading software, downloading a cookie, and the like. As should be appreciated, presentation of a landing page to the device may be particularly useful for a device having a user interface. However, as described in greater detail below, whether or not a device responds to the presentation of a landing page may itself serve as a useful way to assess manageability of the device.

In some instances, delivering device management capability to the device at the portal may include installing a local security agent on the device. Installation of the local security agent may be typically carried out through the landing page presented to the device, although it should be understood that the use of a landing page is not required. Further, or instead, the local security agent may be any one or more of the local security agents described herein. Thus, once installed on the device, the local security agent may communicate with the threat management facility (e.g., by sending a heartbeat) to identify the device as a managed device. Installation of a local security agent may be temporary, for example, to carry out scanning, or may be required for the duration of network access.

Delivering device management capability to the device may, further or instead, include scanning the device for compliance with a security policy. For example, the device management capability delivered to the device may be based on the results of the scan. As an example, the scan may determine whether the device has a version of one or more software programs, such as a current version required for compliance with a security policy. Thus, continuing with this example, delivering device management capability to the device may include checking versions of one or more software programs, as necessary, to bring the device into compliance with the security policy, and optionally updating such software or instructing a device user to update such software as need to bring the device into compliance. Further, or instead, scanning the device for compliance with a security policy may include applying a virus scan or other malware detection tool to identify potentially malicious code on the device that may pose a threat to the enterprise network if the device were granted access to the enterprise network.

More generally, any techniques for bringing the device into compliance with a security policy for an enterprise network, or otherwise identifying the device as safe or manageable, may be used to deliver management capability to the device612as contemplated herein.

As shown in step614, the exemplary method may optionally include presenting an admission decision related to the device to an administrator. Typically, such an admission decision may be presented to the administrator through a user interface at the threat management facility. Presentation of the admission decision to the administrator may be useful, for example, for allowing the administrator to retain a useful amount of control over admission decisions while still making efficient use of the administrator's resources. For example, the admission decision may be presented to the administrator following delivery of management capability to the device in step612such that only a subset of devices (e.g., those devices that are manageable and have successfully received device management capability) are presented to the administrator for an admission decision. The administrator may deny admission to a device if there is an unusual volume of unrecognized devices or, more generally, if admission of the unrecognized device would be inappropriate or inadvisable.

The admission decision presented to the administrator may be presented in any one or more of various different forms useful for managing admission of the device to the enterprise network. For example, the admission decision may be presented to the administrator as a yes/no decision. The administrator may also or instead be presented with context for a decision in order to inform a decision, such as the machine type, machine name, machine or network packet metadata and so forth, any of which may provide useful context for determining whether to admit a device onto an enterprise network. In one aspect, the admission decision may be presented to the administrator with one or more options useful for managing devices that are granted access to the enterprise network. For example, the admission decision by the administrator may include limiting a degree of access granted to the device.

While managing admission of unrecognized devices onto an enterprise network has been described as including directing the device to a portal based on whether the device is manageable, it should be appreciated that an interaction between the device and the portal may itself be useful for identifying the device and/or determining whether the device is manageable. For example, certain devices may be unable to interact with the portal. In certain instances, admission of these devices to the enterprise network may require additional information to be input (e.g., by a user associated with the device).

FIG.7is a flowchart of an exemplary method700of using portal response for managing admission of unrecognized devices onto an enterprise network. In general, unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, the exemplary method700may be implemented using any one or more of the devices and systems described herein. Thus, for example, the exemplary method700may be implemented by the system500(FIG.5). As a more specific example, the system may include one or more computing devices such as one or more of the threat management facility506and the portal508(and endpoints within the enterprise network using same), each including a processor and a memory, the memory storing non-transitory computer executable instructions that, when executing on the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform one or more steps of the exemplary method700. As described in greater detail below, the exemplary method700may address the challenge of providing robust support to unrecognized devices—particularly devices spanning a wide range of user interfaces and capabilities—for admission to an enterprise network while managing risk exposure of a set of managed devices on the enterprise network.

As shown in step702, the exemplary method700may include detecting a device on an enterprise network. As shown in step704, the exemplary method700may include determining whether the device is one of a set of managed devices for the enterprise network. As shown in step706, when the device is identified as one of the set of managed devices for the enterprise network in step704, the exemplary method700may include permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network. Unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, it should be appreciated that steps702,704, and706in the exemplary method700are analogous to the respective steps602,604, and606of the exemplary method600described above with respect toFIG.6.

As shown in step710, when the device is determined to be an unrecognized device in step704, the exemplary method700may include directing the device to a portal for admission of unrecognized devices onto the enterprise network. The portal may be any one or more of the portals described herein and, thus, may include a landing page for interactively delivering device management capability to a device. For example, in instances in which the device includes a user interface and is generally compatible with interaction with the landing page, a user associated with the device may be guided through one or more steps for delivery of device management capability of the device, e.g., as generally described above. Examples of such steps may include one or more of receiving login credentials from the user, prompting the user to download software such as a security agent, receiving registration information for the device, and the like.

As shown in step712, the exemplary method700may include determining a response of the device to the portal. In instances in which the device responds to the portal (in a manner consistent with administration/management of the device), the portal may deliver device management capability to the device according to any one or more of the techniques described herein and, in particular, as described above with respect to step612inFIG.6. However, in instances in which the device does not respond to the portal or responds incorrectly or inadequately to the portal, such responses may indicate that the device is not manageable in a manner consistent with the security policy for the enterprise network. More specifically, unresponsiveness or incorrect responses by the device in response to the portal, may indicate that the device is an unmanageable device. As described in greater detail below, additional information may be required as a condition for permitting such unmanageable devices to communicate over the enterprise network.

In general, it should be appreciated that the portal may store information about registered devices, device types and so forth. Thus, the presence, absence, and/or type of response of the device to the portal may provide an indication of the manageability of the device. For example, determining the response of the device to the portal may include determining whether the device responded to a landing page administered by the portal, or to a redirect intended to direct the device to the landing page. In certain instances, the determination of the response of the device to the portal may include a timeout feature providing a predetermined period of time for responding to the portal, after which the device may be denied further access to enterprise network resources. Further, or instead, the determination of the response of the device to the portal may result in a determination of “no response” when incorrect responses are submitted by the device in response to prompts provided by the portal (e.g., incorrect login credentials, incorrect responses to a challenge-response test, and other prompts useful for identifying a user and/or a device).

As shown in step714, the exemplary method700may include, based on the response of the device to the portal determined in step712, listing the device on an unclaimed device page published by the portal and accessible to authorized users of the enterprise network. This usefully provides a repository for devices that appear unmanageable, e.g., because they are unknown or because they cannot be brought into compliance with a security policy for the enterprise network. Listing the device on the unclaimed device page may be subject to approval/editing by an administrator. That is, an administrator may remove or deny listing for a device otherwise meeting criteria for being listed on the unclaimed device page if, e.g., the administrator determines that the device cannot or should not be permitted access to network resources.

A listing for the device on the unclaimed device page may include any of various different types of information related to or known about the device. Further, or instead, the portal may request any of various different types of information related to the device, the authorized user, or both, as a condition or conditions for listing the device and/or allowing an authorized user to claim the device and/or as a condition or conditions for allowing different degrees of access to the enterprise network. Examples of information that may be requested by the portal for use with the unclaimed device page may include one or more of the device type, device serial number, registration information, user credentials, and other similar information useful for identifying the device and associating the device with the authorized user.

While listing the device on the unclaimed device page may be based on the response of the device to the portal determined in step712, it should be appreciated that a decision to publish the device on the unclaimed device page, or the decision to include various types of device information, may be additionally based on other information gathered about the device. In general, such information about the device may be gathered according to any one or more of the techniques described herein. Thus, for example, listing the device on the unclaimed device page may be further based on, or the listing may include, a fingerprint of the device according to any one or more of the fingerprinting techniques described herein. Further, or instead, listing the device on the unclaimed device page may be based on performing a security scan of the device for compliance with a security policy. Continuing with this example, in instances in which the device is not in compliance with a security policy, the device may be denied listing on the unclaimed device page and/or additional information related to the device may be required as part of the process for listing and/or claiming the device.

In some implementations, the unclaimed device page may list a full inventory of unmanaged devices detected on the enterprise network and, further or instead, the unclaimed device page may distinguish unmanaged but manageable endpoints from unmanageable endpoints (e.g., through the use of different visual indicia). Further, or instead, the unclaimed device page may include a report showing one or more characteristics known about the unmanaged devices, with such characteristics including, for example, one or more of an operating system, an operating system version, a current IP address, and the like. In general, the information presented on the unclaimed device page may be any manner and form of information useful for facilitating identification of an unmanaged device that an authorized user wishes to claim. In addition, or in the alternative, the information presented on the unclaimed device page may be based on permissions for a particular authorized user to which the unclaimed devices page is presented. Still further, or instead, an administrator may be able to see a full inventory of devices on the network, with managed and unmanaged devices identified and, optionally, with potentially manageable devices flagged for possible action by the administrator.

As shown in step716, the exemplary method700may, optionally, include receiving, from an authorized user of the enterprise network, a claim for the device from the unclaimed device page. The received claim may include any of various different types of information useful for associating the device with the authorized user. Thus, for example, receiving the claim may include registering the device in a database stored by the threat management facility. Such registration in a database may be useful for recognizing the device when the device is subsequently detected by the enterprise network which may, for example, be useful for efficiently providing access to mobile devices. As used herein, registration of the device may include obtaining and/or storing any information useful for identifying one or more of the device, the authorized user, and an association between the device and the authorized user.

As shown in step718, the exemplary method700may, optionally, include permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network based on the claim for the device on the unclaimed device page. In certain implementations, the permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network in step718may include the same degree of permission provided to a device permitted to communicate over the enterprise network in step706. It should be appreciated, however, that this may not be the case in certain implementations. For example, a greater degree of permission may be granted to devices via step706than may be granted to devices via step718. More specifically, it may be useful to provide only limited access to a device that has been claimed from the unclaimed devices page, as such devices may pose an increased security risk as compared to managed devices.

While a response (or absence of a response) of a device to a portal has been described as being a basis for listing the device on an unclaimed devices page, it should be appreciated that additional or alternative criterion may be usefully applied as conditions to listing a device on an unclaimed devices page. For example, any one or more of the techniques for determining device manageability described herein may be used to determine whether a device is listed on an unclaimed device page published by a portal. Such additional techniques for determining device manageability may be particularly useful, for example, in instances in which a device is unresponsive to the portal but is nevertheless manageable. As a specific example, unresponsiveness of a device to the portal may be based on a choice made by a user associated with the device, although the device itself may be a manageable device.

FIG.8is a flowchart of an exemplary method800of managing claiming of unclaimed devices for admission to an enterprise network. In general, unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, the exemplary method800may be implemented using any one or more of the devices and systems described herein. Thus, for example, the exemplary method800may be implemented by the system500(FIG.5). As a more specific example, the system may include one or more computing devices such as one or more of the threat management facility506and the portal508(and endpoints within the enterprise network using same), each including a processor and a memory, the memory storing non-transitory computer executable instructions that, when executing on the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform one or more steps of the exemplary method800. The exemplary method800may combine certain features of the exemplary method600(FIG.6) and the exemplary method700(FIG.7) to address the challenge of providing robust categorization and support of unrecognized devices—particularly devices spanning a wide range of user interfaces and capabilities—for admission to an enterprise network while managing risk exposure of a set of managed devices on the enterprise network.

As shown in step802, the exemplary method800may include detecting a device on an enterprise network. As shown in step804, the exemplary method800may include determining whether the device is one of a set of managed devices for the enterprise network. As shown in step806, when the device is identified as one of the set of managed devices for the enterprise network in step804, the exemplary method800may include permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network. Unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, it should be appreciated that steps802,804, and806in the exemplary method800are analogous to the respective steps602,604, and606of the exemplary method600described above with respect toFIG.6.

As shown in step808, the exemplary method800may include, when the device is not identified as one of the set of managed devices in step804, determining manageability of the device. In general, determining manageability of the device in step808may be based on any one or more of the techniques for determining manageability described herein. Thus, unless otherwise specified or made clear from the context, determining manageability in step808shall be understood to be analogous to determining manageability in step608described above with respect toFIG.6. Further, in instances in which the device is determined to be a manageable device in step808, device management capability may be delivered to the device according to any one or more of the various different methods described herein and, in particular, according to steps610and612described above with respect toFIG.6.

As shown in step810, the exemplary method800may include, when the device is not a manageable device, listing the device on an unclaimed device page accessible by authorized users of the enterprise network and published by a portal for admission of unrecognized devices onto the enterprise network. Unless otherwise, specified or made clear from the context, listing the device on the unclaimed device page according to step810should be understood to be analogous to listing a device on an unclaimed device page according to step714described above with respect toFIG.7. Thus, for example, listing the device on the unclaimed device page may include performing a security scan of the device for compliance with a security policy.

As shown in step803, the exemplary method800may, optionally, include sending a request from the portal to the device for a heartbeat indicative of an identity of the device. This query from the portal to the device may be analogous, for example, to the query described above with respect to step603inFIG.6.

As shown in step816, the exemplary method800may, optionally, include receiving, from an unauthorized user of the enterprise network, a claim for the device from the unclaimed device page. In general, the receipt of the claim in step816should be understood to be analogous to the receipt of the claim in step716described above inFIG.7. Thus, for example, receiving the claim may include registering the device in a database stored by the threat management facility.

As shown in step818, the exemplary method may, optionally, include permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network based on the claim for the device from the unclaimed device page. Permitting the device to communicate over the enterprise network according to step818should be understood to be analogous to the permission provided for in step718described above inFIG.7. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that permission granted to a managed device in step806may differ from permission granted to a claimed device in step818.

In one aspect, the network permissions granted in step818may be different, or substantially different, than network permissions granted to other endpoints. For example, where a user attempts to claim a smart device such as a personal health monitoring device, web camera, or other network-enabled device, the device may be determined to be unmanageable, but may be permitted limited network access, e.g. to a user-controlled endpoint such as a desktop computer where the user controls the device, or a remote service that the device couples to. By limiting network communications in this manner, and by notifying other managed devices to avoid communications with the device, network capabilities of the device can be enjoyed by the user/owner, while limiting exposure of other endpoints in the enterprise network to the device.

The above systems, devices, methods, processes, and the like may be realized in hardware, software, or any combination of these suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general-purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device. This includes realization in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable devices or processing circuitry, along with internal and/or external memory. This may also, or instead, include one or more application specific integrated circuits, programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic components, or any other device or devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that a realization of the processes or devices described above may include computer-executable code created using a structured programming language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and database programming languages and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and software. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the steps thereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways. At the same time, processing may be distributed across devices such as the various systems described above, or all of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other hardware. In another aspect, means for performing the steps associated with the processes described above may include any of the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Embodiments disclosed herein may include computer program products comprising computer-executable code or computer-usable code that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs any and/or all of the steps thereof. The code may be stored in a non-transitory fashion in a computer memory, which may be a memory from which the program executes (such as random-access memory associated with a processor), or a storage device such as a disk drive, flash memory or any other optical, electromagnetic, magnetic, infrared or other device or combination of devices. In another aspect, any of the systems and methods described above may be embodied in any suitable transmission or propagation medium carrying computer-executable code and/or any inputs or outputs from same.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combination of these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking equipment, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it may be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Absent an explicit indication to the contrary, the disclosed steps may be modified, supplemented, omitted, and/or re-ordered without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Numerous variations, additions, omissions, and other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, the order or presentation of method steps in the description and drawings above is not intended to require this order of performing the recited steps unless a particular order is expressly required or otherwise clear from the context.

The method steps of the implementations described herein are intended to include any suitable method of causing such method steps to be performed, consistent with the patentability of the following claims, unless a different meaning is expressly provided or otherwise clear from the context. So, for example performing the step of X includes any suitable method for causing another party such as a remote user, a remote processing resource (e.g., a server or cloud computer) or a machine to perform the step of X. Similarly, performing steps X, Y and Z may include any method of directing or controlling any combination of such other individuals or resources to perform steps X, Y and Z to obtain the benefit of such steps. Thus, method steps of the implementations described herein are intended to include any suitable method of causing one or more other parties or entities to perform the steps, consistent with the patentability of the following claims, unless a different meaning is expressly provided or otherwise clear from the context. Such parties or entities need not be under the direction or control of any other party or entity, and need not be located within a particular jurisdiction.

It will be appreciated that the methods and systems described above are set forth by way of example and not of limitation. Numerous variations, additions, omissions, and other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, the order or presentation of method steps in the description and drawings above is not intended to require this order of performing the recited steps unless a particular order is expressly required or otherwise clear from the context. Thus, while particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure and are intended to form a part of the invention as defined by the following claims, which are to be interpreted in the broadest sense allowable by law.