Patent granted for automated intrusion protection updates

The security firm said features from its US Patent 6,725,377 will be incorporated into "various programs and products" to help modify and update intrusion protection on systems and networks.

According to McAfee, as new attacks are discovered with growing frequency, it is becoming increasingly important to update the attack pattern information or signatures used by anti-intrusion software to improve monitoring, detecting and prevention of intrusions.

The newly patented technology, dubbed Method and System for Updating Anti-Intrusion Software, is designed to allow updated attack pattern information, such as a signature update, to be automatically "pushed" from McAfee or other anti-intrusion software vendor to the customer's network. The updates can then be automatically installed on nodes and servers on the customer's network without requiring close involvement of the system administrator, thus saving the customer time and money in administration costs.

In one of the applications for the technology included in the patent, a central anti-intrusion server transfers updated attack pattern information, such as signature files, data or other content, to an anti-intrusion monitor server on a computer network, and anti-intrusion software on the network is updated based upon the attack pattern information.

"Customers utilizing our IPS solutions will feel confident that their anti-intrusion software is being updated much more seamlessly than previously possible," said Victor Kouznetsov, senior vice president for mobile solutions at McAfee.