Patent ID: 7797332

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for searching for registry information stored in registries on a plurality of computers in a communication network, the method comprising: (A) receiving search criteria, wherein the search criteria specifies a registry keyword string including a key and a value corresponding to the key; (B) calculating a digital fingerprint from the key and the value according to a hash function; (C) searching for computers including the digital fingerprint, the searching including referencing a search index having the digital fingerprint to locate computers indexed in the search index as corresponding to the digital fingerprint, wherein: the index includes digital fingerprints for a plurality of registry keyword value sets; each registry keyword value set is associated with at least one machine identifier; the machine identifiers include a configuration, attributes, and a name of each respective computer storing the registry; and the search index includes entries corresponding to the registries on the plurality of computers in the communication network, each entry for each registry including: a registry keyword value set, the registry keyword value set comprising at least a key and a value corresponding to the key; a machine identifier corresponding to the respective computer storing the registry; and the digital fingerprint of the registry keyword value set calculated from the registry keyword value set according to the hash function; (D) returning search results from the searching, the search results indicating the registries and respective machine identifiers including the received search criteria; (E) for each computer of the returned machine identifiers, assessing whether the configuration and attributes of the computer is associated with a vulnerability, wherein: the vulnerability identifies a configuration and attributes and specifies a remediation process to remediate the vulnerability; and the assessing includes comparing the configuration and attributes of the computer to the configuration and attributes identified of the vulnerability; and executing the specified remediation process on each computer assessed as having the vulnerability.