Patent ID: 7774855

Claim:
A system for monitoring the integrity of at least one client computer, comprising: an analyst computer comprising a visual display unit configured to support a graphical user interface; an integrity checker provided in communication with the client computer for obtaining integrity information about files on the client computer, including critical system files, where the obtaining is performed on a periodic schedule; and an integrity server provided in communication with the integrity checker for obtaining and storing client integrity information from the integrity checker, and provided in communication with the analyst computer for providing information to the analyst computer; wherein the graphical user interface is configured to retrieve the client integrity information stored by the integrity server and to display the client integrity information on the visual display unit to allow a user to analyze the client integrity information, wherein integrity information includes information about the integrity of files, wherein the periodic schedule includes at least two schedule sets, a first schedule set with a first periodic schedule for checking the integrity of a first set of files with a first priority, and a second schedule set with a second periodic schedule for checking the integrity of a second set of files with a second priority, wherein both periodic schedules check integrity at least once every twenty-four hours, and a periodic schedule with a higher associated priority includes more frequent checks than a periodic schedule with a lower associated priority, wherein the information about the integrity of files is reported to both an administer of the system and a user of the analyst computer, and wherein the integrity server retains a historical log of client integrity information over a period of time and is configured to compare results of prior integrity checks with subsequent integrity checks.