Patent Document ID: 9680867
Application ID: 14615054
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a stimulation device on a network, a model for a physical computer, wherein the model is associated with empirical data describing one or more actions executed by the physical computer when the physical computer is experiencing average use, wherein an action is associated with activity on the network, and wherein the empirical data includes a time frame in which each action occurred and how frequently the action occurred within the time frame; generating, by the stimulation device, an apparent network for the network, wherein generating the apparent network includes using the empirical data and a virtualized workstation, wherein a virtualized workstation is a simulated network device represented by a Media Access Control (MAC) address and Internet Protocol (IP) address, and wherein a network interface of the stimulation device hosts the MAC and IP address; using, by the stimulation device, a schedule to randomly select an action to execute on the apparent network, wherein the action simulates network activity from the virtualized workstation; generating, by the stimulation device, one or more packets for the action selected from the schedule, wherein generating the one or more packets includes assigning the MAC address and the IP address associated with the virtualized workstation as a source address of the one or more packets; and transmitting, by the stimulation device, the one or more packets associated with the action selected from the schedule, wherein, when the one or more packets are transmitted on the network, the one or more packets simulate network activity on the apparent network, and wherein the apparent network makes one or more physical computer on the network indistinguishable from one or more simulated network devices thereby reducing an ability of a hacker to affect an operation of the network.