Patents by Inventor Andrew NUMAINVILLE

Andrew NUMAINVILLE 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: 11936664
    Abstract: Embodiments detect identity attacks by comparing usage of compromised passphrases or other weak credentials in failed sign-in attempts to access restriction conditions. A restriction threshold amount of weak credential failed sign-ins (WCFSI) or a WCFSI increase indicates an identity attack, such as a password spray attack. Going beyond the mere number of failed sign-ins by also considering credential strength allows embodiments to detect attacks sooner than other approaches. An embodiment may also initiate or impose defenses by locking accounts, blocking IP addresses, or requiring additional authentication before access to an account is allowed. Weak credentials may include short passwords, simple passwords, compromised passwords, or wrong usernames, for instance. Password strength testing may be used for attack detection in addition to preventive use on passwords proposed by authorized users. Familiar and unfamiliar traffic source locations may be tracked, as sets or individually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Numainville, Rohini Goyal, Jingjing Zhang
  • Publication number: 20230195863
    Abstract: Some embodiments improve the security of service principals, service accounts, and other application identity accounts by detecting compromise of account credentials. Application identity accounts provide computational services with access to resources, as opposed to human identity accounts which operate on behalf of a particular person. Authentication attempt access data is submitted to a machine learning model which is trained specifically to detect application identity account anomalies. Heuristic rules are applied to the anomaly detection result to reduce false positives, yielding a compromise assessment suitable for access control mechanism usage. Embodiments reflect differences between application identity accounts and human identity accounts, in order to avoid inadvertent service interruptions, improve compromise detection for application identity accounts, and facilitate compromise containment and recovery efforts by focusing on credentials individually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Ye XU, Etan Micah BASSERI, Maria PUERTAS CALVO, Dana Scott KAUFMAN, Alexander T. WEINERT, Andrew NUMAINVILLE
  • Patent number: 11575692
    Abstract: To detect identity spray attacks, a machine learning model classifies account access attempts as authorized or unauthorized, based on dozens of different pieces of information (machine learning model features). Boosted tree, neural net, and other machine learning model technologies may be employed. Model training data may include user agent reputation data, IP address reputation data, device or agent or location familiarity indications, protocol identifications, aggregate values, and other data. Account credential hash sets or hash lists may serve as model inputs. Hashes may be truncated to further protect user privacy. Classifying an access attempt as unauthorized may trigger application of multifactor authentication, password change requirements, account suspension, or other security enhancements. Statistical or heuristic detections may supplement the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Sergio Romero Zambrano, Andrew Numainville, Maria Puertas Calvo, Abbinayaa Subramanian, Pui Yin Winfred Wong, Dana S. Kaufman, Eliza Kuzmenko
  • Publication number: 20220182397
    Abstract: To detect identity spray attacks, a machine learning model classifies account access attempts as authorized or unauthorized, based on dozens of different pieces of information (machine learning model features). Boosted tree, neural net, and other machine learning model technologies may be employed. Model training data may include user agent reputation data, IP address reputation data, device or agent or location familiarity indications, protocol identifications, aggregate values, and other data. Account credential hash sets or hash lists may serve as model inputs. Hashes may be truncated to further protect user privacy. Classifying an access attempt as unauthorized may trigger application of multifactor authentication, password change requirements, account suspension, or other security enhancements. Statistical or heuristic detections may supplement the model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Sergio ROMERO ZAMBRANO, Andrew NUMAINVILLE, Maria PUERTAS CALVO, Abbinayaa SUBRAMANIAN, Pui Yin Winfred WONG, Dana S. KAUFMAN, Eliza KUZMENKO
  • Publication number: 20210288981
    Abstract: Embodiments detect identity attacks by comparing usage of compromised passphrases or other weak credentials in failed sign-in attempts to access restriction conditions. A restriction threshold amount of weak credential failed sign-ins (WCFSI) or a WCFSI increase indicates an identity attack, such as a password spray attack. Going beyond the mere number of failed sign-ins by also considering credential strength allows embodiments to detect attacks sooner than other approaches. An embodiment may also initiate or impose defenses by locking accounts, blocking IP addresses, or requiring additional authentication before access to an account is allowed. Weak credentials may include short passwords, simple passwords, compromised passwords, or wrong usernames, for instance. Password strength testing may be used for attack detection in addition to preventive use on passwords proposed by authorized users. Familiar and unfamiliar traffic source locations may be tracked, as sets or individually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2020
    Publication date: September 16, 2021
    Inventors: Andrew NUMAINVILLE, Rohini GOYAL, Jingjing ZHANG