Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Niksun, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Thekkthalackal Varugis Kurien

Paul England

Scott Field

Steven Edward Jackson

Kenneth D Ray

Marcus Peinado

David Benson Cross

Lihua Yuan

Ravindra Pandya

Kevin T Damour

Albert Gordon Greenberg

Sharad Agarwal

Bryan M Willman

Niels Thomas Ferguson

Andrew John Thornton

Peter T Brundrett

Narasimha Rao S S Nagampalli

Jeffrey B Hamblin

John E Paff

Randall Kern

Daniel Chaim Robbins

Cormac E Herley

Alice Jane Bernheim Brush

Charles F Rose

Muthukrishnan Paramasivam

Philip J Lafornara

Jamie Hunter

Saurabh Mahajan

Pierre Jacomet

Arindam Chatterjee

Parag Pruthi

Vladimir A Shubin

Derek Norman LaSalle

Andrew Heybey

Mark E Paley

Lonnie Dean McMichael

Anshul Dhir

Bryan Mark Willman

Lonny Dean Mcmichael

David B Cross

Derek Norman Lasalle

Mark Eliot Paley

This document relates to a distributed network coordinate system. One implementation provides computer-readable storage media including instructions that may cause a processor to perform certain acts. For example, the acts may include storing an initial network location of a first device in a network. The network may include the first device and a second device. The acts may also include monitoring one or more network performance metrics related to existing application communications with the second device, and determining an updated network location of the first device, based on the initial network location and the network performance metrics. Aspects of network health can be derived from monitoring changes in the network locations of various devices within the coordinate system.

Identifying problems in a network by detecting movement of devices between coordinates based on performances metrics

Systems and methods provide multiple partitions hosted on an isolation technology such as a hypervisor where at least one of the partitions, a local secure service partition (LSSP), provides security services to other partitions. The service partitions (LSSPs) host those high assurance services that require strict security isolation, where the service can be shared across partitions and accessed even when the user is not connected to a network. The LSSP also can certify the results of any computation using a key signed by a TPM attestation identity key (AIK), or other key held securely by the hypervisor or a service partition. The LSSPs may be configured to provide trusted audit logs, trusted security scans, trusted cryptographic services, trusted compilation and testing, trusted logon services, and the like.

Local secure service partitions for operating system security

Systems and methods that establish a secured compartment that manages sensitive user transactions/information on a user's machine. The secured compartment qualifies user interaction with the machine, and separates such qualified interaction from other user activity on the machine. A user is switched to such secured compartment upon occurrence of a predetermined event, such as in form of: an explicit request (e.g., a secure attention sequence); an implicit request (e.g., inference of user activities); and presence of a peripheral device that is bound to the secured compartment (e.g., a USB)&#x2014;wherein such actions typically cannot be generated by an application running outside the secured compartment.

Secured compartment for transactions

Methods for using scenario solution-related information to generate customized user experiences are provided. Upon receiving a user query, a plurality of results is returned, each result being representative of a scenario solution which may be utilized to address a particular issue relevant to the received query. At the time of authoring, each scenario solution is organized based upon one or more keywords and/or one or more categories (i.e., namespaces). Data associated with a namespace/keyword corresponding to a returned search result may be mined to determine information beyond basic scenario solution search results that may be of interest to the user. As the namespace(s)/keyword(s) in association with which to organize a particular executable scenario solution is determined by the author of the scenario solution, other information associated with the same namespace/keyword (and/or a namespace/keyword having a relationship thereto) is likely to be more relevant than information organized based upon keywords alone.

Using scenario-related information to customize user experiences

Distributed network coordinate system based on network performance

Software is authorized in accordance with a reputation of the software. A trust in the author and/or publisher of the software is determined via digital signatures and/or CoAs, and a reputation of the software is utilized to determine the intent of the software. The reputation of the software can be determined via a local service, such as an enterprise IT department and/or via a reputation determination service. When software is downloaded or to be executed, the trust in the author/publisher is determined using digital signatures and/or CoAs associated with the software. If the author/publisher is determined to be trusted, a service is called to determine the reputation of the software. The software can be installed and/or executed dependent upon the reputation of the software and trustworthiness of the author/publisher.

Software authorization utilizing software reputation

At computer device power on, the operating system of the computer device initiates a monitor. The monitor assigns a monitoring program to each program and object (collectively, 'program') running on the computer device to monitor the activities of the program. When the monitoring program is assigned to a program, the monitoring program is assigned an integrity and/or privacy label (collectively, 'integrity label') based on predetermined criteria applied to the monitored program. The monitoring program, in turn, assigns an integrity label to the program monitored by the monitoring program. The integrity label assigned to the monitored program is less than or equal to the integrity label of the monitoring program. The monitor enforces an integrity policy of the computer device based on the integrity label assigned to monitored programs and the integrity label associated with data, another program, or a remote network resource that the monitored program is seeking to access.

Integrating security protection tools with computer device integrity and privacy policy

Today, data networks are ever increasing in size and complexity. For example, a datacenter may comprise hundreds of thousands of service endpoints configured to perform work. To reduce network wide degradation, a load balancer may send work requests to healthy service endpoints, as opposed to unhealthy and/or inoperative service endpoints. Accordingly, among other things, one or more systems and/or techniques for monitoring service endpoints, which may be scalable for large scale networks, are provided. In particular, a consistent hash function may be performed to generate a monitoring scheme comprising assignments of service endpoints to monitoring groups. In this way, multiple monitoring components may monitor a subset of endpoints to ascertain health status. Additionally, the monitoring components may communicate between one another so that a monitoring component may know heath statuses of service endpoints both assigned and not assigned to the monitoring component.

Monitoring service endpoints

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for identifying executable scenario solutions relevant to a user query and returning such executable scenario solutions as search results in response to the user query are provided. Upon receiving a user query, a plurality of results is returned, each result being representative of a series of steps which may be implemented to address a particular issue relevant to the received user query. Often, a series of steps or scenario includes a number of sub-scenarios, each of which is to be executed sequentially to achieve the desired result. Accordingly, upon selection of a particular search result, the user may be guided through a series of sub-scenario result options until an item having direct association to a series of steps is selected. Once selected, the executable scenario solution is presented to the user for execution.

Identifying executable scenarios in response to search queries

Mechanisms for organizing scenario solution-related information based upon a user's locality are provided. Locality refers to a collection of metadata created based upon scenario solutions executed by a user and/or enablers acquired by a user during scenario solution execution. Such metadata may be stored in association with a scenario solution execution workspace and/or in association with a user-specific information store. Once such information is acquired, a user may desire to share the information, or a portion thereof, with one or more other users, for instance, the members of a user group. However, often times, the user would prefer that the information not be made available to the general public. Thus, mechanisms for controlling access to user-specific information are also provided.

Organizing scenario-related information and controlling access thereto

Application factoring or partitioning is used to integrate secure features into a conventional application. An application's functionality is partitioned into two sets according to whether a given action does, or does not, involve the handling of sensitive data. Separate software objects (processors) are created to perform these two sets of actions. A trusted processor handles secure data and runs in a high-assurance environment. When another processor encounters secure data, that data is sent to the trusted processor. The data is wrapped in such a way that allows it to be routed to the trusted processor, and prevents the data from being deciphered by any entity other than the trusted processor. An infrastructure is provided that wraps objects, routes them to the correct processor, and allows their integrity to be attested through a chain of trust leading back to base component that is known to be trustworthy.

Integration of high-assurance features into an application through application factoring

A mechanism for protected operating system boot that prevents rogue components from being loaded with the operating system, and thus prevents divulgence of the system key under inappropriate circumstances. After a portion of the machine startup procedure has occurred, the operating system loader is run, the loader is validated, and a correct machine state is either verified to exist and/or created. Once the loader has been verified to be a legitimate loader, and the machine state under which it is running is verified to be correct, the loader's future behavior is known to protect against the loading of rogue components that could cause divulgence of the system key. With the loader's behavior being known to be safe for the system key, the validator may unseal the system key and provides it to the loader.

System and method for protected operating system boot using state validation

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