Network node security analysis using mobile agents

摘要

The present invention relates to analysing network nodes N1, N2, N3 such as web servers using mobile software agents AA1, AA2, AA3, and network nodes for interacting with said agents. The present invention provides a system of disseminating two or more assessment agents to a target network node in an insecure network, and retrieving said agents following interaction with the node. The agents are software based mobile agents and are arranged such that they are associated with different sources (origins) or transmitters. This is achieved by forwarding the agents to a plurality of trusted nodes T1, T2, TM in the network which each modify the received agent's code e.g. source identifier/address in order to show the trusted node as the source (and final destination) of the agent, and forwarding the agent towards the target node. The system having retrieved the plurality of (further) modified agents then analyses their different interactions with the target node in order to determine a trust level for said target node. This allows the originating/source node to remain anonymous from the target node(s). One particular application disclosed is to agents being used to collect prices from a plurality of web servers/vendors.