Automated Enterprise Network Assessment Through Secure Endpoint Data Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for assessing the technical controls of another organization's enterprise network, such as questionnaires, are inefficient, time-consuming, and prone to inaccuracies, especially in customer-supplier relationships where multiple organizations have different questionnaires and internal mechanisms that can skew results.
Innovation Solution
An automated system using client software installed on electronic devices within the network to collect and share real-time data on the current state of endpoints, enabling near real-time cyber risk assessments and compliance validation, with mechanisms to ensure secure and controlled information sharing through cloud services and broker services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If questionnaire-based assessment methods are used, then organizations can assess technical controls of supplier networks, but the process becomes time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual questionnaire-based assessment system with an automated electronic data collection system. Client software automatically gathers technical control data from supplier networks, eliminating the need for manual questionnaire distribution, collection, and analysis. This substitution of manual mechanical processes with automated electronic systems directly reduces assessment time while maintaining or improving accuracy through consistent data collection protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service mechanisms where supplier systems automatically populate assessment data through integrated client software. The system enables organizations to self-assess and self-report technical control compliance without external intervention for data collection. This self-service approach accelerates the assessment process while ensuring data accuracy through automated validation rules and standardized data formats.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple organizations use different questionnaires and internal mechanisms, then each organization can customize assessments to their needs, but results become inconsistent and inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal assessment platform that can serve multiple organizations with different requirements. The system provides a standardized core framework for technical control assessment that ensures consistency across all assessments, while simultaneously allowing customization through configurable parameters. This multi-functional system handles both standardized compliance checking and organization-specific requirements within a single unified platform, eliminating the need for multiple different questionnaire systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables dynamic parameter configuration within the assessment system. Organizations can modify assessment parameters, data collection scopes, and validation rules to suit their specific needs while the system maintains standardized data structures and processing logic. This parameter-based customization allows adaptability without sacrificing measurement precision, as all variations operate within a consistent analytical framework that ensures comparable results.
3Productivity
If automated data collection is implemented, then assessment speed and accuracy improve, but system complexity and security requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the automated assessment system into distinct modular components: client software for data collection, server infrastructure for processing, and database systems for storage. Each segment performs a specific function and can be independently configured, deployed, and maintained. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by creating manageable modules with well-defined interfaces, while still enabling high-speed automated data collection and processing across the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
A cloud service to facilitate performance by a first organization of an assessment of an enterprise network of a second organization is described. According to one aspect, the cloud service performs the following operations with approval from the second organization. Specifically, the cloud service causes client software to be installed on a plurality of endpoints within the enterprise network to determine a first information regarding a current state of those endpoints. Also, the cloud service receives a second information that is based on the first information, and then causes a third information to be securely shared with the first organization. The third information is the second information or is based on the second information, and the third information is limited, through a set of one or more mechanisms, to that considered to be acceptable to share with another organization.