US 12,756,742 B2Granted

System and method for provably secure network operations ensuring integrity and availability of distributed network resources

AssigneeUberspark Inc.

InventorsAmit Vasudevan, Ajit Vasudevan, Michael J McCall

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Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for provably secure network monitoring. A significant technical problem exists in Distributed Network Resources (DNRs) due to their increased reliance on digital communication and control, which presents a substantial risk from cyberattacks. A mathematically-backed secure network monitoring framework is provided that utilizes bastion platforms in the network to ensure end-to-end protection by detecting and preventing cyber threats while isolating, attributing, and securely communicating DNR traffic. Prior to deployment, software for the bastion platform undergoes a formal verification process that models the network mathematically and then evaluates that model to determine if a trusted network security mechanism (TNSM) holds true for the network. TNSM is a security mechanism that enforces permitted patterns of operations of the network without adversarial influence. In some implementations TNSM utilizes anti-spoofing, anti-flooding, secure kill-switch, secure patch delivery, and secure network flow mechanisms to secure the network.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A system comprising:

a bastion platform having at least one processor, a network peripheral and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of program execution elements (PEE), each PEE of the set of PEEs (i) executable by the at least one processor, (ii) having a respective privilege level, (iii) in a respective memory address space, and (iv) enforcing a trusted network security mechanism;
a set of computer platforms, the set including the bastion platform and one or more second computer platforms, each of the one or more second computer platforms having a respective second processor, second network peripheral, and second non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
a network of the set of computer platforms;
and
a mathematical model of the network, the mathematical model (I) having a formal representation of the computer platforms including, for the bastion platform, a representation of the at least one processor, the network peripheral, the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and the set of PEEs, and, for the one or more second computer platforms, a representation of the respective second processor, second network peripheral, and second non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and (II) specifying invariants to enforce the trusted network security mechanism with assume-guarantee interface-confined mathematical reasoning, and (III) proving the trusted network security mechanism for the set of computer platforms, wherein the trusted network security mechanism enforces permitted patterns of operations of the network, the operations of the network including at least one of (i) point-to-point network operations, (ii) broadcast network operations, (iii) multi-cast network operations, and (iv) operations involving access to and manipulation of the state of the bastion platform (“bastion platform network state”).

2 more elements

A system for performing a computer-implemented method for formal verification of a design and operation of a network of a set of computer platforms, the set of computer platforms including a bastion platform and one or more second computer platforms, the system comprising:

one or more processors;
and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising acts of:
modeling in a mathematical model the set of computer platforms in the network using a formal representation of a set of processors (“platform processors”) including one or more bastion platform processors for the bastion platform, non-transitory computer-readable storage media (“platform memory”) including bastion platform memory for the bastion platform, and a set of network peripherals of the computer platforms;
further modeling in the mathematical model the bastion platform with a set of program execution elements (PEEs) in the formal representation, each PEE of the set of PEEs represented as (a) executable by the one or more bastion platform processors, (b) having a respective privilege level, and (c) utilizing a respective memory address space in the bastion platform memory;
specifying, in the mathematical model, invariants, to enforce a trusted network security mechanism (TNSM), with assume-guarantee interface-confined mathematical reasoning;
evaluating the mathematical model of the network;
and
determining from the evaluating that the TNSM holds true for the network.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 19/409,695Filed 4 Dec 2025 · us provisional application
Priority: 4 Dec 2024
Published: US 2026/0156150 A14 Jun 2026
Granted: 6 Oct 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 63/1483
Countermeasures against malicious traffic: service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing
H04L 41/145
Network analysis or design: involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
H04L 63/0236
Filtering policies: filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
H04L 63/1458
Countermeasures against malicious traffic: denial of Service