Silent Security Compliance Auditing via Collector Process
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security software compliance testing methods often require user interaction, are not automated, and fail to silently perform audits, leading to incomplete and outdated security configurations in computer systems and networks, which can leave them vulnerable to malicious activities.
Innovation Solution
A method for automatically and silently performing audits of third-party security software within a user's context, using a Collector Process that executes tests without user interaction, verifies the integrity of Child Applications, and suppresses notifications to ensure seamless operation, thereby testing the effectiveness of security controls without user awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If automated silent auditing is implemented, then security testing completeness improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Collector Process as an intermediary component that runs within the user's context to execute Child Applications and collect security test results. This mediator handles the complexity of automated testing by separating the testing logic from the user interface, allowing silent operation while maintaining comprehensive security validation without requiring direct user interaction or system-wide modifications
Solution Approach 2:
The security testing system is segmented into distinct components: a Collector Process that manages testing operations, Child Applications that perform specific security tests, and a notification suppression mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to have specialized functionality, improving security testing completeness while containing complexity within modular units rather than requiring complex monolithic system changes
2Ease of operation
If notifications are suppressed for seamless operation, then user experience improves, but information transparency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The notification suppression is applied locally and selectively only to notifications generated by the Collector Process and Child Applications during security testing, rather than globally suppressing all system notifications. This allows seamless operation for automated testing while preserving user awareness of other important system events, maintaining information transparency for non-testing activities
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an intermediary notification management mechanism that intercepts and filters notifications based on their source. The Collector Process identifies and suppresses only its own notifications and those of Child Applications, while allowing other system notifications to pass through to the user. This selective approach maintains user experience during testing without造成 information loss about other system events
Data Source
AI summary
Current security tools in the marketplace fall into different categories: Security Enforcement Tools which identify and block malicious activity, and Security Vulnerability Testing Tools which scan and identify security threats within an organisation. The disclosure describes Silently (invisible to the user) but as if it is the user, within the User's Context, Executing applications to test whether third party security products and security settings exhibit the correct behaviour. The application can continuously perform a test(s) and expects a security product to behave in a certain way, records the result of the test(s) and reports those results.