Patent ID: 8763113

Claim:
A method, implemented in a computer system that includes at least one processor and at least one storage device, for determining a reputation of a node using information received electronically from a plurality of submitters, the method comprising: receiving information about one or more nodes from a submitter of the plurality of submitters, the one or more nodes being associated with a network, wherein the submitter is distinct from the one or more nodes; identifying, using the at least one processor, a reputation of the submitter from a knowledge base, wherein the reputation of the submitter is determined at least by assertions associated with the submitter's past behavior and attributes from one or more submitters of a second plurality of submitters weighted by reputations of the one or more submitters; determining, using the at least one processor, a node reputation of the node based upon at least the reputation of the submitter and the received information from the submitter wherein the node reputation of the node in a context is determined by calculating the sum of all assertions from the submitter with respect to the context weighted by each submitter's reputation in the context, wherein the node reputation is expressed as a rational number based on normalized assertions, where a normalized assertion is expressed as A sxc ⁡ ( norm ) = A sxc 1 n ⁢ ∑ i = 0 i = n ⁢ ⁢ A sic where A denotes an assertion, Asxc is an assertion submitted by a submitter S in a context C about node X, and Asic is an assertion submitted by submitter S about node i, i=1 to n, and n is an interger; and transferring the node reputation to a user of the computer system.