Patents by Inventor David M. McMillen

David M. McMillen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9531759
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics of the first business and a second business are determined. The second business has a second computer system currently or recently under attack. The characteristics include respective industries, sizes, geographical locations, types of sensitive data, and security vulnerabilities associated with the first and second businesses or first and second computer systems, an address of traffic through a device in the first computer system, and an address of an entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system. Based on a similarity between the characteristics of the first and second businesses, a likelihood that the entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system will attack the first computer system of the first business is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Patent number: 9531746
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics are determined for target businesses having target computer systems currently or recently under attack by an entity whose Internet Protocol (IP) address was selected from a list of suspicious IP addresses. Percentages associated with the characteristics are determined. Each percentage indicates a percentage of the target businesses whose associated characteristic matches a corresponding characteristic of the first business. A score is incremented by an amount for each of the percentages that exceeds an associated threshold. The score is incremented by twice the amount if the IP address matches an address of a source or destination of traffic through a security device in the first computer system. A recommendation to change a security policy for the first computer system is generated if the score exceeds twice the predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Publication number: 20160308899
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics are determined for target businesses having target computer systems currently or recently under attack by an entity whose Internet Protocol (IP) address was selected from a list of suspicious IP addresses. Percentages associated with the characteristics are determined. Each percentage indicates a percentage of the target businesses whose associated characteristic matches a corresponding characteristic of the first business. A score is incremented by an amount for each of the percentages that exceeds an associated threshold. The score is incremented by twice the amount if the IP address matches an address of a source or destination of traffic through a security device in the first computer system. A recommendation to change a security policy for the first computer system is generated if the score exceeds twice the predetermined amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2016
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Publication number: 20160065621
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics of the first business and a second business are determined. The second business has a second computer system currently or recently under attack. The characteristics include respective industries, sizes, geographical locations, types of sensitive data, and security vulnerabilities associated with the first and second businesses or first and second computer systems, an address of traffic through a device in the first computer system, and an address of an entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system. Based on a similarity between the characteristics of the first and second businesses, a likelihood that the entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system will attack the first computer system of the first business is determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Patent number: 9253204
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics of the first business and a second business are determined. The second business has a second computer system currently or recently under attack. The characteristics include respective industries, sizes, geographical locations, types of sensitive data, and security vulnerabilities associated with the first and second businesses or first and second computer systems, an address of traffic through a device in the first computer system, and an address of an entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system. Based on a similarity between the characteristics of the first and second businesses, a likelihood that the entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system will attack the first computer system of the first business is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Publication number: 20150271199
    Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a likelihood of an attack on a first computer system of a first business. Characteristics of the first business and a second business are determined. The second business has a second computer system currently or recently under attack. The characteristics include respective industries, sizes, geographical locations, types of sensitive data, and security vulnerabilities associated with the first and second businesses or first and second computer systems, an address of traffic through a device in the first computer system, and an address of an entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system. Based on a similarity between the characteristics of the first and second businesses, a likelihood that the entity responsible for the attack on the second computer system will attack the first computer system of the first business is determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2014
    Publication date: September 24, 2015
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nicholas W. Bradley, Gary I. Givental, David M. McMillen, Kaleb D. Walton
  • Patent number: 7084760
    Abstract: An intrusion event detection system, method, and program product with an enumeration of specific known benign intrusion events, and performing a vulnerability test on specific elements of the computer system for the particular known benign intrusion event. These vulnerability tests are performed at predetermined time intervals measured from a previous test or previous intrusion event of the known benign intrusion event. The predetermined time interval is increased based on various attributes, passage of time since the last intrusion event of either the specific known benign intrusion event or another known benign intrusion event, or even a an undetermined or harmful intrusion event, or the present detection of an intrusion even; or the vulnerability of a specific element in the computer system to a specific intrusion event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin D. Himberger, Clark Debs Jeffries, David M. McMillen, John Allan Ziraldo