Vulnerability-Change Request Integration for Network Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems face challenges in effectively coordinating vulnerable items and change requests across large networks, leading to potential security breaches due to the lack of integration between databases managing these elements, resulting in delayed vulnerability addressing and increased risk.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that allows for automated and user-friendly cross-referencing of vulnerable items and change requests through graphical user interfaces and programmatic logic, enabling the generation of change requests from vulnerability groups, association of existing change requests with vulnerability groups, and automatic state synchronization between change requests and vulnerability groups.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vulnerable items and change requests are maintained in separate databases with little coordination, then database simplicity is maintained, but vulnerability addressing timeliness deteriorates and security risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the vulnerability management database and change request database into an integrated system where vulnerable items and change requests are cross-referenced through unique identifiers. This integration allows automatic association when vulnerabilities are discovered and when change requests are created, eliminating the need for separate uncoordinated databases while maintaining manageable system complexity through structured relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the completion status of change requests automatically updates the remediation status of associated vulnerable items. When a change request is marked as completed, the system automatically notifies the vulnerability management module to update the vulnerable item's status, creating a closed-loop feedback system that ensures timely vulnerability addressing without manual intervention.
2Productivity
If manual tracking of vulnerable items and change requests is used, then system complexity is reduced, but productivity and vulnerability addressing speed deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating associations between vulnerable items and change requests at the moment they are discovered or created. The integration layer proactively establishes relationships and sets up tracking mechanisms before vulnerabilities need to be addressed, eliminating the need for manual tracking setup and enabling immediate automated monitoring and updates throughout the remediation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated system provides self-service functionality where the vulnerability management and change request management modules automatically coordinate without human intervention. The system autonomously tracks associations, updates statuses, and notifies relevant parties, freeing IT personnel from manual tracking tasks and significantly improving vulnerability addressing speed while the system manages the complexity internally.
3Reliability
If comprehensive tracking of all vulnerable items and change requests is implemented, then security monitoring is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to information overload
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comprehensive tracking information into distinct modular components: vulnerable items are tracked with their own attributes (severity, affected systems), change requests are tracked separately with their own attributes (status, assigned personnel), and their relationships are maintained through unique identifiers. This segmentation allows the system to provide comprehensive security monitoring while presenting information in organized, manageable portions through graphical user interfaces rather than overwhelming users with all data at once.
Solution Approach 2:
The integration layer acts as an intermediary that manages the complex relationships between vulnerable items and change requests. It automatically cross-references items and requests, filters relevant information, and presents only the most pertinent data to users through graphical interfaces. This intermediary function maintains comprehensive security monitoring capability while simplifying the user experience by eliminating information overload.
Data Source
AI summary
A computational instance may contain a plurality of vulnerable items and a plurality of change requests, wherein at least some of the vulnerable items are assigned to a vulnerability group, the vulnerable items represent hardware or software components that exhibit known vulnerabilities, and the change requests represent additions, removals, or modifications of the hardware or software components. The computational instance may further include one or more computing devices configured to: generate a representation of a first graphical user interface containing data related to the vulnerability group, generate a representation of a second graphical user interface that allows specification of change request options, generate a representation of a third graphical user interface with data entry fields for a corresponding change request that are auto-populated based on the data related to the vulnerability group, and add a corresponding change request to the plurality of change requests.