Dendritic cell algorithm module with inflammatory inter-node signaling
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsMark Jonathan Handel, Douglas Alan Stuart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) including the Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) are an emerging method to detect malware in computer systems. An implementation of the DCA may detect anomalous behavior in various embedded network systems. Unlike previous approaches, the DCA implementation may use an inflammation signal to communicate information among the nodes of a distributed or centralized network, where the inflammatory signal indicates a likelihood to the connected nodes that a local node has been attacked by malicious software.
Claims22
A system comprising:
- a local node;
- one or more connected nodes linked to the local node;
- and
- a Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) module in the local node, the DCA module comprising an inflammatory signal indicating a likelihood to the connected nodes that the local node has been attacked by malicious software.
A method of operating a computer network comprising a plurality of computing nodes, the method comprising:
- running a Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) module on each of the computing nodes;
- identifying a harmful antigen at a first computing node by observing abnormal activity based on predetermined criteria established by the DCA module running on the first computing node;
- and
- transmitting an inflammatory signal from the DCA module of the first computing node to one or more additional computing nodes on the computer network, wherein the inflammatory signal indicates a likelihood to the one or more additional computing nodes that the first computing node has been attacked by malicious software.
A method of operating a Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DCA) module on a first computing node linked to a computer network, the method comprising:
- monitoring an indicator signal comprising a vector of PAMP, Danger, and Safe signals, collected locally at the first computing node;
- receiving an inflammation signal from a second computing node linked to the computer network, wherein the inflammation signal indicates a likelihood that the second computing node has been attacked by malicious software;
- creating and aging out a plurality of individual Dendritic Cell (DC) instances;
- calculating an overall mature context antigen value (MCAV) of the first computing node as individual DC instances age out;
- and
- transmitting a current node status signal to one or more additional nodes linked to the computer network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.