Backup Snapshot Vulnerability Analysis Outside Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing production environments face increased latency and resource overhead due to agents or processes scanning for security vulnerabilities, which also require significant configuration efforts for virtual machines.
Innovation Solution
Process backup snapshots of virtual machines in a separate system, such as a storage appliance, to identify security vulnerabilities, reducing the need for resource utilization and configuration requirements at the production environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If agents or processes are executed in the production environment to scan for security vulnerabilities, then security vulnerability detection is achieved, but system latency increases and processing resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the vulnerability scanning function from the production environment by processing backup snapshots in a separate system. The backup snapshot contains a copy of the virtual machine's file system, which is processed externally to identify security vulnerabilities without executing scanning agents in the production environment, thereby eliminating the latency and resource overhead while maintaining detection capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a backup snapshot as a copy of the virtual machine's file system to perform vulnerability analysis. Instead of scanning the live production system, the analysis is performed on this static copy, which allows comprehensive security scanning without impacting the performance or availability of the original production environment
2Reliability
If agents or processes are executed in the production environment to scan for security vulnerabilities, then security vulnerability detection is achieved, but configuration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for configuring scanning agents in the production environment by extracting the vulnerability analysis function to an external backup processing system. The backup snapshot is processed externally using standardized procedures, eliminating the need for environment-specific agent configuration while maintaining comprehensive vulnerability detection
Solution Approach 2:
The backup snapshot contains sufficient information about the virtual machine's software packages and configuration, allowing the external processing system to automatically identify vulnerabilities without requiring additional configuration input from the production environment. The system self-serves by extracting all necessary information from the backup data itself
Data Source
AI summary
A storage appliance or system may support backup and recovery for virtual machines that support various applications. The storage appliance or system may process a backup snapshot of the virtual machine to identify security vulnerabilities in the virtual machine. The storage appliance may generate an index of software packages installed on the virtual machine and software versions of the software packages. The index of software packages may be compared to a list of security vulnerabilities to identify the security vulnerability at the virtual machine. A notification may be triggered, and the notification may indicate a result of comparing the index of software packages and the software versions to the list of vulnerabilities. In some examples, a set of network configurations implemented by the virtual machines may be determined by processing the backup snapshot and used to identify security vulnerabilities.