Patent ID: 8302196

Claim:
In a network that includes a server and a plurality of client computing devices communicatively coupled thereto, a method performed by the server comprising: performing unauthenticated inspection of ports corresponding to each client computing device in a first set of client computing devices and each client computing device in a second set of client computing devices; harvesting the first and second set of client computing devices from a target set of client computing devices to assess, the harvesting step including discovering at least some of the client computing devices in the first and second sets of client computing devices by name or by IP address; communicating with the first set of client computing devices in the plurality of client computing devices, each client computing device in the first set of client computing devices including one or more components operable to independently perform a self-assessment process that identifies security risks and security vulnerabilities of the client computing device in the first set of client computing devices that includes the component(s); directing the component(s) included in each client computing device in the first set of client computing devices to perform the self-assessment process; obtaining a first set of data corresponding to results of the self-assessment processes performed by the component(s) included in the client computing devices in the first set of client computing devices; performing a remote assessment process on the server to identify security risks and security vulnerabilities of the second set of client computing devices in the plurality of client computing devices to obtain a second set of data corresponding to results of the remote assessment process; performing a further remote assessment process on the server to identify security risks and security vulnerabilities of a selected client computing device in the first set of client computing devices to obtain a third set of data corresponding to results of the further remote assessment process; and using the first set of data, the second set of data, and the third set of data to determine security risks and security vulnerabilities in the network, including comparing the third set of data against the first set of data to determine, for the selected client computing device, whether any discrepancy exists between the results of the further remote assessment process and the results of the self-assessment process performed by the component(s) included in the selected client computing device.