Multi-Cloud Inspector Architecture for Local Vulnerability Scanning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vulnerability scanning solutions for multi-cloud environments are time-consuming, costly, and inefficient, particularly when scanning large numbers of devices across different cloud platforms, due to the need for extensive data collection and transfer, which is impractical and complex.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for multi-cloud vulnerability inspection that generates object copies within the same cloud environment for inspection, using inspectors compatible with the workload type, and stores enriched datasets in a security graph to identify cybersecurity threats without external data transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vulnerability scanning is performed across multi-cloud environments using current solutions, then comprehensive security detection is achieved, but time consumption and operational complexity increase dramatically
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates copies of virtual machines in the same cloud region where the inspection environment is deployed, eliminating the need to copy disks across regions. This allows inspectors to scan the copied VMs locally without the time-consuming cross-region data transfer, thus maintaining comprehensive security detection while dramatically reducing scanning time
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the inspection process by creating separate inspection environments for different cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) within the same region. Each inspector is specialized for specific cloud platforms, allowing parallel processing and reducing overall scanning time while maintaining comprehensive coverage across multi-cloud environments
2Reliability
If vulnerability scanning is performed across multi-cloud environments using current solutions, then comprehensive security detection is achieved, but operational complexity and effort increase dramatically
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal inspection environment that can inspect virtual machines from multiple cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) within the same cloud region. The system provides a unified interface and standardized inspection processes that work across different cloud platforms, eliminating the need for separate complex management procedures for each cloud provider and significantly reducing operational complexity
3Measurement precision
If disk data is copied across cloud regions for inspection, then complete vulnerability analysis is possible, but data transfer feasibility decreases due to large data volumes
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of copying disk data from production VMs to inspection environments (the traditional approach), the patent inverts the process by creating inspection environments and their associated inspectors within the same cloud region as the production VMs. This eliminates the need for large-scale data copying across regions while maintaining complete vulnerability analysis capability through local inspection
Data Source
AI summary
An architecture of a multi-cloud inspector for any computing device type is provided. According to an embodiment, a method for implementing multi-cloud inspection includes accessing an object list, determining which objects to inspect, determining which inspectors to use, creating object copies, providing and running inspectors for each object copy, receiving inspection report summaries, generating an enriched dataset, and adding the enriched dataset to a security graph database.