Predictive Engine for Software Exploit Prediction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing security techniques struggle to detect unknown malicious activities as they rely on pre-identified signatures, failing to recognize new vulnerabilities and techniques used by malicious actors, and lack a comprehensive method to prioritize resource allocation for network security.

Innovation Solution

A predictive engine is developed to analyze historical and current vulnerability information from diverse data sources, processing this data into a usable format for predictive models to generate a threat level prediction, which is then used to prioritize security measures based on predetermined thresholds.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If signature-based detection techniques are used, then detection accuracy for known threats is improved, but the ability to detect unknown malicious activities deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedetection accuracyVSAvoidability to detect unknown threats
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of vulnerability data, exploit patterns, and threat intelligence before actual exploitation occurs. By pre-processing and storing structured vulnerability information, exploit metadata, and threat actor behaviors, the system prepares predictive models in advance that can rapidly assess new vulnerabilities without requiring pre-existing signatures, thus enabling detection of unknown threats while maintaining accuracy for known threats

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary predictive analytics layer between signature-based detection and unknown threats. This intermediary uses machine learning models trained on historical vulnerability data and exploit patterns to generate predictions about potential exploitation risks, bridging the gap between known signature detection and unknown threat identification by translating unstructured threat intelligence into actionable predictive insights

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If comprehensive vulnerability analysis is performed, then security prediction accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecurity prediction accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the comprehensive vulnerability analysis into distinct modular components: data collection from multiple sources, data preprocessing and normalization, feature extraction, model training, and prediction generation. Each module processes specific aspects of vulnerability data independently, allowing parallel processing and reducing overall computation time while maintaining comprehensive analysis coverage and prediction accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary data preprocessing, normalization, and feature extraction during off-peak hours or in advance, storing processed data in optimized formats. When prediction is needed, the system retrieves pre-processed data and applies trained models rapidly, significantly reducing real-time processing time while maintaining comprehensive analysis quality and prediction accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Loss of information

If multiple data sources are integrated, then threat information completeness is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvethreat information completenessVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements a universal data integration framework that handles multiple data sources (vulnerability databases, exploit repositories, threat intelligence feeds, security logs) through a common architecture. This framework provides standardized data ingestion, normalization, and processing capabilities that work across all data source types, reducing system complexity by eliminating the need for separate handling mechanisms for each data source while maintaining complete threat information from all sources

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces intermediary data normalization and standardization layers that translate diverse data formats from multiple sources into a unified structure. These intermediaries handle data cleaning, validation, and format conversion, allowing the core prediction engine to work with standardized data regardless of source, thus reducing complexity while maintaining information completeness from all data sources

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS10264009B2Automated machine learning scheme for software exploit prediction
Publication Date: 2019.04.16 BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON INC
  • US10264009B2 patent drawing
  • US10264009B2 patent drawing
  • US10264009B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A predictive engine for analyzing existing vulnerability information to determine the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited by malicious actors against a particular computer or network of computers. The predictive engine relies on multiple data sources providing historical vulnerability information, a plurality of predictive models, and periodic retraining of the prediction ensemble utilizing predictive models. Modeling schemes may also be used when retraining the predictive models forming the prediction ensemble.