Time-Tagged Penetration Testing Scenarios

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-defining time-tagged scenarios that specify optimal testing times for different attack types. Before conducting penetration testing, the system prepares a library of scenarios with associated time tags (e.g., watering hole attacks scheduled during business hours, DOS attacks during low-traffic periods). This allows the testing system to automatically select and execute the appropriate scenario based on the current time, thereby improving vulnerability detection accuracy without requiring complex real-time decision-making logic during the actual testing process.

The patent implements self-service by enabling the penetration testing system to automatically select appropriate test scenarios based on the current time and scheduled start time. The system retrieves time-tagged scenarios from storage, compares their time tags with the scheduled time, and autonomously selects the matching scenario without requiring manual intervention or complex scheduling algorithms. This self-service mechanism ensures reliable test results by guaranteeing that the correct time-specific scenario is executed, while minimizing the time loss associated with manual scenario selection and scheduling decisions.

The patent applies local quality by dynamically filtering and displaying only those pre-defined scenarios whose time tags match the current or scheduled start time. Instead of presenting all scenarios uniformly, the system adapts the displayed scenario set based on the temporal context. This local customization of the scenario list allows users to easily identify and select appropriate scenarios without being overwhelmed by irrelevant options, while still maintaining access to the full range of time-specific scenarios when needed. The filtering mechanism is applied locally to the scenario display rather than globally to the entire system.