Managing a segmentation policy based on attack pattern detection

Abstract

A policy management server detects attack patterns in traffic flows reported by distributed enforcement modules enforcing the segmentation policy. The policy management server generates a traffic flow graph representing traffic flows between workloads or groups of workloads. Traffic flows matching one or more traffic flow patterns may be tagged in the traffic flow graph. For example, if an attack pattern is present in a connection that is blocked under the segmentation policy, the policy management server may block updates to the segmentation policy that attempt to enable the connection or may alert an administrator prior to enabling the update. If an attack pattern is present in a connection that is allowed under the segmentation policy, the segmentation policy may be updated to block the connection, alert an administrator, redirect traffic to a deception service, or take other remedial action.