K-zero day safety

US9325729B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• George Mason Research Foundation, Inc. · US
• The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology · US

Inventors

• Sushil Jajodia · Oakton, US
• Lingyu Wang · Montréal, CA
• Steven E. Noel · Salem, US
• Anoop Singhal · Santa Clara, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 7, 2014
• Grant date: Apr 26, 2016
• Expiry date: Jul 20, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F21/577
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining a safety level of a network vulnerable to attack from at least one origin to at least one target are described. Machines, components, and vulnerabilities in a network may be associated to one another. Degrees of similarity among the vulnerabilities may be determined and subsets of vulnerabilities may be grouped based on their determined degrees of similarity to one another. This data may be used to generate an attack graph describing exploitation of vulnerabilities and grouped vulnerabilities and defining vulnerability exploit condition relationships between at least one origin and at least one target. The attack graph may be analyzed using a k-zero day metric function to determine a safety level.