Contextual Cloud Risk Assessment Across Multi-Platform Security Graphs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cloud computing environments lack a unified benchmark for security measurement and existing tools are often tailored to specific types of environments, leading to inconsistent and inefficient cybersecurity vulnerability management across different cloud platforms.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for generating a contextual cybersecurity risk assessment using a security graph to apply consistent policies across multiple cloud computing environments, enabling reliable and rapid detection of vulnerabilities and initiating mitigation actions based on risk assessment reports.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If existing security tools are tailored to specific cloud environments, then they can provide detailed security analysis for that environment, but they cannot provide consistent security measurement across different cloud platforms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal security assessment system that works across multiple cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.) by defining environment-agnostic security policies and metrics. The system translates environment-specific security configurations into a common assessment framework, enabling consistent security measurement across diverse cloud platforms while maintaining the ability to assess each environment's unique characteristics.
2Reliability
If comprehensive security monitoring is implemented across all cloud environments, then security coverage is improved, but computational resources and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores only the essential security assessment data and policy definitions in a standardized format, rather than storing complete security configurations from all environments. The system extracts key security metrics, vulnerability assessments, and policy violations into a compact representation that maintains security coverage while significantly reducing storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of storing all raw security data and then analyzing it, the system inverts the approach by defining security policies and assessment criteria first, then using these predefined standards to evaluate and store only the relevant security metrics. This inversion allows comprehensive security monitoring with minimal storage by focusing on policy compliance rather than raw data retention.
3Measurement precision
If multiple security assessment policies are applied to each cloud environment, then detection accuracy is improved, but assessment time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies security assessment policies in a predetermined sequence based on priority and relevance to each cloud environment type. Critical security policies are applied first to identify high-risk vulnerabilities, followed by secondary policies for comprehensive assessment. This preliminary ordering of policies enables accurate vulnerability detection while minimizing assessment time by focusing on the most important security checks first.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for generating a contextual cloud risk assessment of a cloud computing environment. The method includes accessing a plurality of cloud assessment policies, wherein a policy including a query executable on a security graph; applying the plurality of cloud assessment policies to the representation of the first cloud computing environment; generating a risk assessment report based on an output generated by applying a policy of the plurality of cloud assessment polices; and initiating a mitigation action based on a cybersecurity risk from the risk assessment report.