Controlling client access to networked data based on content subject matter categorization

Abstract

An access control technique to limit access to information content such as available on the Internet. The technique is implemented within a network device such as a proxy server, router, switch, firewall, bridge or other network gateway. The access control process analyzes data in each request from the clients and determines if the request should be forwarded for processing by a server to which it is destined. Access control may be determined by comparing client source information against a database of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), IP addresses, or other resource identification data specifying the data requested by the client. The invention therefore provides access control not based only upon content, but rather, based primarily upon the identity of the computers or users making the requests. The technique further avoids the problems of the prior art which categories or filters the content of only web pages based solely upon objectionable words. This is because a category database is used by the network device to control access and is created via a process involving human editors who assist in the creation and maintenance of the category database.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION [0001]This application is a reissue of application Ser. No. 09 / 052,236, filed on Mar. 31, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,618 B1.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Computer networks, including private intranets and the publicly accessible Internet, have grown dramatically in recent years, to the point where millions of people all over the world use them on a daily basis. The surge in the popularity of computer network use is due in large part to the vast amounts of data and information that is readily available to people at a relatively small cost.[0003]As an example, a computer network application that uses a suite of protocols known as the World Wide Web, or simply “the web”, permits computer users connected to the Internet to “browse”“web pages”. To browse or “surf” the web, a person operates a client computer that executes an application program called a “web browser”. The browser allows the user to submit requests for “web pages”, which are data files stored at ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]In systems that place access control at the client, it is up to the administrator of each client computer (i.e. the parent or information technology professional) to determine how the access control software is installed and configured on the client computer. Since client browsing and access control software is typically installed on a personal computer, easy access to the operating system and software stored on the computer disk make it possible for the restricted users (i.e., children or employees) to de-configure or un-install the blocking software, unbeknowst to the administrator. In environments such as schools and corporations, maintaining each client installation of, for example, web-blocking software as a separate system thus becomes a quite cumbersome administrative task.

[0016]The network device also includes an access control process coupled to the first interface. The access control process analyzes data in each request from the clients and determines if the request should be forwarded to the second network for processing by a server to which it is destined. The determination to forward or not is made by cross referencing information in the request with access control data in at least one access control database, that may be, for example, stored locally within the network device, but that can be provided from a remote source, such as a subscription service providing periodic access control database updates. By automating the access control database update process, the invention does not have to burden its owners or users with constant maintenance.

Problems solved by technology

Prior art systems used for limiting access to data on the networked computers, such as those used for the world wide web, suffer certain drawbacks.

The separate authentication communication between the server, the authentication server and the client creates additional network traffic—this in turn means that access times are slowed considerably, since they must first be processed by the remote authentication server.

In environments such as schools and corporations, maintaining each client installation of, for example, web-blocking software as a separate system thus becomes a quite cumbersome administrative task.

Furthermore, content filtering based solely upon supposedly objectionable words is not foolproof.

For example, a word such as “breast” might be considered to be objectionable, and the blocking software might typically be set to block access to any web page or data file requested that contains that word.

Similarly, an FTP site may simply consist of a directory with one or more graphics files which are objectionable.

Content filtering based on keywords does not help with either situation.

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