Abstract: Different network segments can have overlapping address spaces. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a distributed agent of a security system receiving a security event from a network device monitored by the agent. In one embodiment, the agent normalizes the security event into an event schema including one or more zone fields. In one embodiment, the agent also determines one or more zones associated with the received security event, the one or more zones each describing a part of a network, and populates the one or more zone fields using the determined one or more zones.

Abstract: A network security system having a hierarchical configuration is provided. In one embodiment the present invention includes a plurality of subsystems, where each subsystem includes a plurality of distributed software agents configured to collect base security events from monitor devices, and a local manager module coupled to the plurality of distributed software agents to generate correlated events by correlating the base security events. Each subsystem can also include a filter coupled to the manager module to select which base security events are to be processed further. The selected base security events are passed to a global manager module coupled to the plurality of subsystems that generates global correlated events by correlating the base security events selected for further processing by each filter of each subsystem.

Abstract: Events are received from a plurality of security devices (which may be similar or different devices, e.g., intrusion detection systems configured to monitor network traffic) and divided into a plurality of event flows. Comparing the event flows (e.g., using statistical correlation methods) then generates one or more meta-events. The received events may be divided into different event flows on the basis of the security device which generated the events. The meta-events may be generated by evaluating a perimeter defense device through comparison of the different event flows. In some cases, various ones of the security devices may be inside or outside a perimeter defined by the perimeter defense device.

Abstract: A system can be configured using configuration objects that have the ability to refer to one another. In one embodiment, the present invention includes such a system having a plurality of objects used to configure the system, each object having a uniform resource identifier (URI), and an object reference table to enable the plurality of objects to reference each other without using URIs.

Abstract: A network security system having a hierarchical configuration is provided. In one embodiment the present invention includes a plurality of subsystems, where each subsystem includes a plurality of distributed software agents configured to collect security events from monitor devices, and a local manager module coupled to the plurality of distributed software agents to generate correlated events by correlating the security events. Each of the subsystems can report the correlated events to a global manager module coupled to the plurality of subsystems, and the global manager module can correlate the correlated events from each manager module.

Abstract: A system can be configured using configuration objects that have the ability to refer to one another. In one embodiment, the present invention includes such a system having a plurality of objects used to configure the system, each object having a uniform resource identifier (URI), and an object reference table to enable the plurality of objects to reference each other without using URIs.

Abstract: Patterns can be discovered in security events collected by a network security system. In one embodiment, the present invention includes collecting and storing security events from a variety of monitor devices. In one embodiment, a subset of the stored security events is provided to a manager as an event stream. In one embodiment, the present invention further includes the manager discovering one or more previously unknown event patterns in the event stream.

Abstract: Patterns can be discovered in events collected by a network system. In one embodiment, the present invention includes collecting and storing events from a variety of monitor devices. In one embodiment, a subset of the stored events is provided to a manager as an event stream. In one embodiment, the present invention further includes the manager discovering one or more previously unknown event patterns in the event stream.

Abstract: A session table includes one or more records, where each record represents a session. Session record information is stored in various fields, such as key fields, value fields, and timestamp fields. Session information is described as keys and values in order to support query/lookup operations. A session table is associated with a filter, which describes a set of keys that can be used for records in that table. A session table is populated using data contained in security information/events. Rules are created to identify events related to session information, extract the session information, and use the session information to modify a session table. A session table is partitioned so that the number of records in each session table partition is decreased. A session table is processed periodically so that active sessions are moved to the current partition.

Abstract: A network security system is provided that receives information from various sensors and can analyse the received information. In one embodiment of the present invention, such a system receives a security event from a software agent. The received security event includes a target address and an event signature, as generated by the software agent. The event signature can be used to determine a set of vulnerabilities exploited by the received security event, and the target address can be used to identify a target asset within the network. By accessing a model of the target asset, a set of vulnerabilities exposed by the target asset can be retrieved. Then, a threat can be detected by comparing the set of vulnerabilities exploited by the security event to the set of vulnerabilities exposed by the target asset.

Abstract: Patterns can be discovered in security events collected by a network security system. In one embodiment, the present invention includes collecting and storing security events from a variety of monitor devices. In one embodiment, a subset of the stored security events is provided to a manager as an event stream. In one embodiment, the present invention further includes the manager discovering one or more previously unknown event patterns in the event stream.