System and method for identifying exploitable weak points in a network

A method for identifying exploitable weak points in a network, comprising:

• configuring one or more passive scanners to identify network addresses and open ports associated with connections that the one or more passive scanners observe in the network;
• configuring one or more active scanners to enumerate current connections in the network and identify network addresses and open ports associated with the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• modeling trust relationships in the network based on information associated with the connections observed with the one or more passive scanners and the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• identifying exploitable weak points in the network based on the information associated with the connections observed with the one or more passive scanners and the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• simulating an attack that uses the modeled trust relationships to target the exploitable weak points on a selected host in the network;
• and
• enumerating remote network addresses that could compromise the network and determine an exploitation path that the enumerated remote network addresses could use to compromise the network based on the simulated attack.

A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for identifying exploitable weak points in a network, wherein executing the computer-executable instructions one or more processors causes the one or more processors to:

• configure one or more passive scanners to identify network addresses and open ports associated with connections that the one or more passive scanners observe in the network;
• configure one or more active scanners to enumerate current connections in the network and identify network addresses and open ports associated with the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• model trust relationships in the network based on information associated with the connections observed with the one or more passive scanners and the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• identify exploitable weak points in the network based on the information associated with the connections observed with the one or more passive scanners and the current connections enumerated with the one or more active scanners;
• simulate an attack that uses the modeled trust relationships to target the exploitable weak points on a selected host in the network;
• and
• enumerate remote network addresses that could compromise the network and determine an exploitation path that the enumerated remote network addresses could use to compromise the network based on the simulated attack.