Computer network attribute bilateral inheritance

A method comprising:

• receiving a security attribute associated with a network element from a plurality of network elements associated with a top-level entity;
• modifying, at a first time, a child data structure representing the network element, such that the child data structure includes the security attribute;
• inspecting each child data structure of a plurality of child data structures associated with the plurality of network elements, the plurality of child data structures including the child data structure;
• modifying a parent data structure associated with the top-level entity, such that the parent data structure includes the security attribute;
• receiving, at a second time after the first time and from a device accessed by an analyst, a selection of the parent data structure;
• sending, after inspecting the parent data structure, a signal to the device accessed by the analyst such that the device accessed the analyst conducts a security threat mitigation analysis of the network element, based on inspection of the parent data structure and not inspection of the child data structure representing the network element, the signal including (1) attributes associated with the top-level entity, and (2) the security attribute, such that the security attribute provides context to the attributes associated with the top-level entity.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to define a parent data structure disposed at a top layer of a network element hierarchy, the parent data structure including attributes that are associated with a top-level entity;
• the processor configured to define a plurality of child data structures disposed at least one layer of the network element hierarchy that is lower than the top layer of the network element hierarchy, each child data structure of the plurality of child data structures including an attribute associated with a network element from a plurality of network elements associated with the top-level entity;
• the processor configured to determine whether to include the attributes associated with the plurality of child data structures in the parent data structure based on results of inspecting each child data structure from the plurality of child data structures, the processor configured to modify the parent data structure so as to include attributes associated with a first subset of the plurality of child data structures, in the parent data structure, and so as to not include attributes associated with a second subset of the plurality of child data structures, in the parent data structure, based on the results of inspecting each child data structure from the plurality of child data structures;
• the processor configured to send, after modifying the parent data structure, a signal to a device accessed by an analyst such that the device accessed by the analyst conducts a security threat mitigation analysis of a network element from the plurality of network elements and associated with a child data structure from the first subset of the plurality of child data structures based on inspection of the parent data structure and not inspection of the child data structure, the signal including (1) the attributes that are associated with the top-level entity, and (2) an attribute of the network element, such that the attribute of the network element provides context to the attributes that are associated with the top-level entity.