Automated Agent for Firewall Egress Testing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional network security systems are vulnerable to security breaches from within the network boundary, as they assume benign user behavior and fail to detect sensitive data being misrouted using protocol misdirection, allowing sensitive information to leak undetected through firewalls.

Innovation Solution

An automated agent generates and sends data packets across the network boundary with specified security parameters, including port numbers, payload formats, and communication protocols, which are analyzed by a listener outside the boundary to identify vulnerabilities and provide a report for network administrators, enabling proactive security measures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional network security systems assume benign user behavior and use traditional firewall rules, then the system is simple to operate and maintain, but the system is vulnerable to security breaches from inside the network boundary through protocol misdirection

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity reliabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of assuming benign user behavior and blocking suspicious outbound traffic, the system inverts the approach by actively generating suspicious-looking traffic from inside the network to test if firewalls incorrectly allow it through. This inversion transforms the security model from passive defense based on trust to active testing based on vulnerability exploitation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary security testing by proactively generating test data packets before actual sensitive data transmission occurs. This preliminary action identifies firewall vulnerabilities in advance, allowing administrators to patch security holes before they can be exploited by malicious users.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Ease of operation

If conventional network security systems use traditional firewall filtering, then the firewall rules are easy to configure and maintain, but the system fails to detect sensitive data being misrouted using protocol misdirection

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefirewall configuration easeVSAvoidsecurity vulnerability detection precision

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces an intermediary testing component that generates simulated sensitive data packets and monitors their transmission through the firewall. This intermediary layer provides detailed visibility into firewall behavior without requiring changes to the firewall configuration itself, thus maintaining ease of operation while improving detection precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes multiple parameters of test data packets including protocol types, port numbers, and data formats to comprehensively test firewall rules. By varying these parameters, the system can detect vulnerabilities across different communication scenarios without complicating the underlying firewall configuration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Ease of manufacture

If network administrators react to improper transmissions of sensitive data after the fact, then the response is straightforward and simple, but the damage has already occurred and security holes remain open

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity response simplicityVSAvoidtime to detect vulnerabilities

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary security assessments by continuously generating test packets to identify firewall vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This preliminary detection mechanism shifts security management from reactive response to proactive prevention, reducing the time to detect vulnerabilities while maintaining simple automated response procedures.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Measurement precision

If the system exhaustively tests all port numbers and protocols, then the security analysis is comprehensive and complete, but the testing process becomes time-consuming and resource-intensive

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity analysis completenessVSAvoidtesting duration

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs exhaustive testing of all 65,535 port numbers and multiple protocols, which is excessive compared to typical security scans. This excessive action ensures complete coverage of potential vulnerability vectors, accepting the time cost as necessary for comprehensive security assessment rather than settling for partial testing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS8887284B2Exfiltration testing and extrusion assessment

Publication Date: 2014.11.11 CIRCUMVENTIVE LLC

AI summary

An improved technique employs an automated agent inside the network perimeter, which generates and sends data packets to a listener outside the network perimeter. Along these lines, the automated agent generates data packets over a specified range of security parameters including port number, payload format, and communications protocol. The agent attempts to send these data packets across the network boundary through a firewall at an egress or other point of the network. The listener receives the data packets and analyzes the payload content of each received data packet for each value of the security parameters (e.g., port number, file type, and protocol). The listener then sends the results of the analysis to a report generator, which summarizes the analysis for an administrator of the network.