Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support – Multiple computer communication using cryptography – Protection at a particular protocol layer
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-24
2001-06-05
Beausoleil, Robert (Department: 2184)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support
Multiple computer communication using cryptography
Protection at a particular protocol layer
C709S220000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243815
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to reconfiguring and managing network security devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to reconfiguring of network firewalls and security devices at single administration points. Further, the present invention relates to management of multi-platform firewalls using services such as VPN, Authentication Servers, etc.
Introduction
With the explosive growth of the Internet, computer users are now able to access many valuable sources of information, and, at the same time, users are now exposed to many new perils. Such perils include downloading of destructive computer viruses to sophisticated third-party, network attacks. In response to dangers lurking from “outside” computer networks, firewalls and other types of security devices have emerged as a preferred type of computer network security system.
As corporations and other organizations connect their networks to the public Internet, the risks of endangering information assets have risen dramatically. Not a day or a week passes without the popular press commenting on the latest episode of Internet-related fraud, information corruption, or other incidents that dramatically underscore the darker side of the communications revolution. Computer and communications security, a topic once the exclusive province of obscure firms catering mainly to the government defense, intelligence agencies, and to financial services companies, have become mainstream almost overnight.
The concern for network security has led to a need for more sophisticated security systems than most organizations have needed until now. At one time, these organizations were content with the security provided by their network operating systems, network directory services, routers, and gateways. However, these rudimentary systems are now no longer sufficient to resist the attacks of legions of determined Internet hackers, or from an organization's own employees.
Generally, a firewall is a security mechanism for controlling access between a private, trusted network and an untrusted outside network (which might be the public Internet or some other part of the corporate network within the intranet). Firewalls typically provide from one to three levels of security: packet filtering, circuit-level gateways, and application-level gateways. Firewalls are not all created alike for they often differ greatly in their architecture, the types platforms they run upon, their security capabilities, and their ability to support mixed protocol networks. For example, the mixed protocol network: TCP/IP is not, contrary to popular belief, the only network protocol still left standing—millions of IPX clients still need to get secure access to the Internet without going through the dreaded “forklift upgrade” to a whole new protocol stack.
Mixed Protocol Networks
Rumors of the death of NetWare as a network platform are exaggerated. Although WindowsNT is gaining market share, there are in excess of three million NetWare servers (and 55 million NetWare clients) currently in use. Thus, mixed networks at both the protocol and operating system platform level will be around for years to come as well as the need to securely and seamlessly access the Internet and its rich information resources.
Current solutions for providing security in mixed protocol networks are quite limited in scope. For example, IP/IPX gateways provide Internet connectivity for IPX clients, but the security is very basic. Application security, for example, is generally based only on TCP ports numbers alone, although some products also support ICMP or UDP port-based filtering. Further, the security focus of these gateway products is typically on controlling outbound access, and not on dealing with the more serious problem of inbound network access. More importantly, these gateways do not appear to provide security for IP clients.
Other mixed protocol network solutions such as filtering bridges or packet-level filtering by routers are partial solutions, and have major security limitations. Further, they typically do not support Internet services for IPX clients. IP firewalls (as long as they provide capabilities up to and including an application level gateway), provide some security for IP clients, but not for IPX clients and servers. Dual-protocol-stack clients can be implemented to get around the IP-only nature of the Internet and of IP firewalls, but this method is complex to implement and manage and is very difficult to administer.
The usefulness of firewalls has been limited, by their inability to work in hybrid network environments that employ multiple protocols and multiple platforms. What is needed are improved firewall configuration and management methods and apparatus for such hybrid network environments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention discloses methods and apparatus for configuring and managing firewalls.
According to one embodiment, a method for reconfiguring network security devices coupled to a network directory services server, the network directory services server providing network directory services to the network security devices, includes the steps of storing configuration data for a first network security device at a pre-determined directory location, and copying the configuration data from the predetermined directory location to a directory used by the first network security device using the network directory services in response to a first reconfigure request. The step of updating configuration of the first network security device according to the configuration data in the directory used by the first network security device is also disclosed.
According to another embodiment, a method for configuring network security devices includes the steps of providing a network directory server providing network directory services to a plurality of network security devices, classifying each network security device into hierarchical classes of network security devices including a first network security class, a second network security class, and a third network security class, the third network security class including network security devices classified within the first network security class and within the second network security class, and storing configuration data for the first network security class at a first directory location, configuration data for the second network security class at a second directory location, and configuration data for the third network security class at a third directory location. The step of copying the configuration data from the first directory location to a first plurality of directories, each of the first plurality of directories used by network security devices classified within the first network security class, in response to a first update request is also disclosed. Updating configuration of the first network security devices according to the configuration data in the respective directories is also performed.
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Antur Anand K.
Bisht Naveen S.
Puri Hemant
Sawhney Sanjay
Beausoleil Robert
Bonzo Bryce P.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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