Software Defect and Incident Response Tool

Background:  Web server administrators need a mechanism to prevent software defects in their systems from leading to full-system compromises. They need to ensure a malicious web client cannot affect other users of the site.  Currently, every person visiting a web server shares the same instance of the server (“multiplexing”) so when a breach occurs, it can affect any / all other users on the web server.

Technology Overview: This invention consists of creating a separate copy of a web server for each person / client visiting a particular web server.  A copy of the server is created and kept in a separate ‘container’ (like a lightweight virtual machine or VM).  Each client will interact with a separate copy of that server instead of every person sharing the same instance of the server (called “multiplexing”).  The containers have enforceable boundaries, allowing each to have its own permissions, processes, and storage. In turn, this limits any breach to only one container instead of the entire web server.