Detecting unmanaged and unauthorized assets in an information technology network with a recurrent neural network that identifies anomalously-named assets

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer program for detecting unmanaged and unauthorized assets on an IT network by identifying anomalously-named assets. A recurrent neural network (RNN) is trained to identify patterns in asset names in a network. The RNN learns the character distribution patterns of the names of all observed assets in the training data, effectively capturing the hidden naming structures followed by a majority of assets on the network. The RNN is then used to identify assets with names that deviate from the hidden naming structures. Specifically, the RNN is used to measure the reconstruction errors of input asset name strings. Asset names with high reconstruction errors are anomalous since they cannot be explained by learned naming structures. After filtering for attributes or circumstances that mitigate risk, such assets are associated with a higher cybersecurity risk.