System and method of updating active and passive agents in a network

A system for updating active and passive agents in a network, the system comprising:

• a hardware processor configured to:
• designate a unique identifier for each of a plurality of terminal node in a network of computing devices;
• broadcast the unique identifiers for the plurality of terminal nodes;
• collect criteria from the plurality of terminal nodes, the criteria indicating at least presence of security vulnerabilities on each terminal node and a set of unique identifiers for other terminal nodes in a same broadcast domain as the terminal node;
• generate a list of terminal nodes that are active update agents and a list of terminal nodes that are passive update agents based on the collected criteria, wherein a number of active update agents in the generated list is calculated based on a number of the terminal nodes present in a broadcast domain;
• transmit one or more updates of a security application installed on the each terminal node to each terminal node that is an active update agent;
• and
• transmit from each terminal node that is an active update agent, the one or more updates to each terminal node that is a passive update agent.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon for updating active and passive agents in a network, the instructions comprising:

• designating a unique identifier for each of a plurality of terminal node in a network of computing devices;
• broadcasting the unique identifiers for the plurality of terminal nodes;
• collecting criteria from the plurality of terminal nodes, the criteria indicating at least presence of security vulnerabilities on each terminal node and a set of unique identifiers for other terminal nodes in a same broadcast domain as the terminal node;
• generating a list of terminal nodes that are active update agents and a list of terminal nodes that are passive update agents based on the collected criteria, wherein a number of active update agents in the generated list is calculated based on a number of the terminal nodes present in a broadcast domain;
• transmitting one or more updates of a security application installed on the each terminal node to each terminal node that is an active update agent;
• and
• transmitting from each terminal node that is an active update agent, the one or more updates to each terminal node that is a passive update agent.