File Operation Tracing With Interactive Data Trace Graphs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Diagnostic tools in networked environments struggle to effectively track and visualize data operations, leading to potential vulnerabilities and inefficiencies in safeguarding sensitive data due to raw data logs being difficult to analyze and interpret.
Innovation Solution
A tracing engine generates a graphical and interactive data trace graph that visualizes data movements, access, replication, modification, and deletion across file-related operations, allowing for enhanced security measures by identifying and addressing vulnerable points in the network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a diagnostic tool logs operations in delimited or list format, then the log records all operations occurring throughout the network environment, but the raw data in the delimited or list format is not easily or readily consumed and analyzed by the administrator
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tracing engine as an intermediary component that receives raw operation logs and transforms them into visual data trace graphs. This mediator converts the difficult-to-analyze delimited or list format into an easily interpretable graphical format with nodes representing files and edges representing operations, thereby maintaining complete operation recording while dramatically improving ease of analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of analyzing raw log data with automated computational processing. The tracing engine automatically parses, processes, and visualizes operation logs, substituting the manual mechanical analysis process with an automated system that generates graphical representations, thereby improving both efficiency and ease of operation
2Loss of information
If the diagnostic tool displays raw log data in delimited or list format, then all operation information is preserved, but potentially vulnerable points in the network may go unnoticed or be overlooked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms one-dimensional raw log data into a two-dimensional graphical visualization. By representing files as nodes and operations as edges in a data trace graph, the system adds a spatial dimension to the data, enabling administrators to visually identify patterns, anomalies, and vulnerable points that would be difficult to detect in linear text format while preserving all original information
3Ease of operation
If a tracing engine generates a graphical data trace graph, then data movements and operations are easily visualized and analyzed, but the system complexity increases due to the need for aggregation and identification of file instances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex task of log analysis into distinct functional components: a tracing engine that receives logs, an aggregation module that groups related file instances, and a visualization module that generates graphs. This segmentation allows each component to handle specific aspects of the process, making the overall complex system more manageable and maintainable while providing excellent visualization capabilities
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are systems and methods of tracing data. A tracing engine may receive, via the user interface, a selection of a target file or an event involving the target file. The tracing engine may generate, responsive to receiving the selection, a trace of first data in the target file to a plurality of file instances in a network each having at least one version of the first data. Each of the plurality of file instances may be related to at least the target file or another of the plurality of file instances via at least one file operation or data operation. The tracing engine may render, via a user interface, the generated trace.