Network traffic correlation engine
AssigneeBank of America Corporation
InventorsJonathan Sheedy, Steven E. Sinks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A network traffic correlation engine monitors inbound and/or outbound connection information received from on each host computer system on a network. Each host device on the network store data logs corresponding to information corresponding to communications sent by the device and received by the device. The network traffic correlation engine correlates connections between different hosts throughout the network. If the network traffic correlation engine identified unmatched outbound and inbound connections, the network traffic correlation engine generates an alert to initiate further investigation and may also provide a mapping of the communications showing a possible start device for the connection and/or a type of access that the connections may now be providing.
Claims18
A method comprising:
- monitoring, by a network traffic correlation engine, network communications information aggregated from each host of a plurality of hosts on an enterprise network, wherein the network communications information comprises inbound and outbound connection information received from each host on the enterprise network;
- identifying, by the network traffic correlation engine, whether a correlation exists between a first outbound communication sent from a first host device to a second host device and a second inbound communication received by the second host device from the first host device;
- determining, based on whether a correlation exists between the first communication and the second communication, whether an anomalous communication condition exists with respect to one or both of the first outbound communication or the second inbound communication;
- and
- triggering, based on the correlation, an alert identifying that the anomalous communication condition is present between the first host device and the second host device, wherein the anomalous condition comprises an indication of host to host communication.
A computing device, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to:
- monitor, by a network traffic correlation engine, network communications information aggregated from a plurality of hosts on an enterprise network, wherein the network communications information comprises inbound and outbound connection information received from each host on the enterprise network;
- identify, by the network traffic correlation engine, whether a correlation exists between a first communication sent from a first host device via the enterprise network to a second host device and a second communication received via the enterprise network by the second host device;
- determine, based on whether a correlation exists between the first communication and the second communication, whether an anomalous communication condition exists;
- and
- trigger, based on the correlation, an alert identifying that the anomalous communication condition is present between the first host device and the second host device.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a host computing device comprising a processor, memory, and a communication interface, cause the host computing device to:
- monitor, by a network traffic correlation engine, network communications information aggregated from a plurality of hosts on an enterprise network, wherein the network communications information comprises inbound and outbound connection information received from each host on the enterprise network;
- identify, by the network traffic correlation engine, whether a correlation exists between a first communication sent via the enterprise network from a first host device to a different host device and a second communication received via the enterprise network by a second host device;
- determine, based on whether a correlation exists between the first communication and the second communication, whether an anomalous communication condition exists;
- and
- trigger, based on the correlation, an alert identifying that the anomalous communication condition is present between the first host device and the second host device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.