910 results about "IPsec" patented technology

A method and system for distributed network address translation with security features. The method and system allow Internet Protocol security protocol (“IPsec”) to be used with distributed network address translation. The distributed network address translation is accomplished with IPsec by mapping a local Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of a given local network device and a IPsec Security Parameter Index (“SPI”) associated with an inbound IPsec Security Association (“SA”) that terminates at the local network device. A router allocates locally unique security values that are used as the IPsec SPIs. A router used for distributed network address translation is used as a local certificate authority that may vouch for identities of local network devices, allowing local network devices to bind a public key to a security name space that combines a global IP address for the router with a set of locally unique port numbers used for distributed network address translation. The router issues security certificates and may itself be authenticated by a higher certificate authority. Using a security certificate, a local network device may initiate and be a termination point of an IPsec security association to virtually any other network device on an IP network like the Internet or an intranet. The method and system may also allow distributed network address translation with security features to be used with Mobile IP or other protocols in the Internet Protocol suite.

The present invention incorporates methodologies developed in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) Working Group into asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and frame relay (FR) signaling to provide message integrity and origin authentication. In one implementation the invention provides a virtual private network (VPN) infrastructure with call control message integrity, origin verification, and transit network filtering. The invention utilizes a set of control plane messages based on the IPSEC authentication header (AH) methodology to provide these security mechanisms for ATM and FR network switching equipment and signaling protocols. This abstract itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.

A security gateway provides a secure connection among one or more networks and a protected resource network. One of the local networks may be connected to the remote private network via a VPN IPsec tunnel. The networks may be local networks that share resources without compromising the security of the protected resource network. The local networks may have access to an untrusted network such as the Internet, sharing a single connection through the security gateway. Dynamic source network address translation is used to permit access from the network connected to the protected resource network to other, less trusted networks while concealing the actual IP addresses of hosts within that network.

An IP-based corporate network architecture and method for providing seamless secure mobile networking across office WLAN, home WLAN, public WLAN, and 2.5G / 3G cellular networks for corporate wireless data users. The system includes Internet roaming clients (IRCs), a secure mobility gateway (SMG), optional secure IP access (SIA) gateways, and a virtual single account (VSA) server. The IRC is a special client tool installed on a mobile computer (laptop or PDA) equipped with a WLAN adaptor and a cellular modem. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining a mobile IPsec tunnel between the mobile computer and a corporate intranet. The SMG is a mobile IPsec gateway installed between the corporate intranet and the Internet. It works in conjunction with the IRC to maintain the mobile IPsec tunnel when the mobile computer is connected on the Internet via a home WLAN, a public WLAN, or a cellular network. The SIA gateway is a special IPsec gateway installed in the middle of the wired corporate intranet and an office WLAN. It works with the IRC to ensure data security and efficient use of corporate IP addresses when the mobile computer is connected to the office WLAN. The VSA server manages authentication credentials for every corporate user based on a virtual single account concept. The Internet Roaming system can provide secure, always-on office network connectivity for corporate users no matter where they are located using best available wireless networks.

A method, system, and computer program product for providing consistent, end-to-end protection within a computer network for user datagrams (i.e. packets) traveling through the network. The network may comprise network segments that are conventionally assumed to be secure (such as those found in a corporate intranet) as well as network segments in non-secure networks (such as the public Internet or corporate extranets). Because security breaches may in fact happen in any network segment when datagrams are unprotected, the present invention discloses a technique for protecting datagrams throughout the entire network path by establishing cascaded tunnels. The datagrams may be exposed in cleartext at the endpoints of each tunnel, thereby enabling security gateways to perform services that require content inspection (such as network address translation, access control and authorization, and so forth). The preferred embodiment is used with the “IPSec” (Internet Protocol Security Protocol) and “IKE” (Internet Key Exchange) protocols, thus providing a standards-based solution.

Compression of inner headers of IPSec tunnel packets is achieved by storing an inner IP header and an inner protocol header in a context sub-table associated with the security association database entry at a destination tunnel device. IPSec tunnel packets having compressed inner headers may be identified by the LSBs of the SPI number in the IPSec header. The SPI number may also identify whether the IPSec tunnel packet is a TCP packet. A portion of padding in the encapsulated portion may identify a particular context sub-table used for decompressing the inner headers. The context sub-table may be updated as portions of the inner headers change.

An exemplary system and method for using a network access system, such as a virtual private network (VPN), are provided. A user device may have a user session with a home agent. Additionally, an initiating security gateway may be in communication with the home agent, and a terminating security gateway may be in communication with the initiating security gateway via a tunnel (e.g., Internet Protocol in Internet Protocol (IP-in-IP) or Internet Protocol security (IPsec) tunnel). Further, a virtual local area network (VLAN) tag associated with the user session may map to a selector operable in a security policy database. The selector may be used to find a security policy defining an IPsec procedure, and the security policy may be applied to the tunnel. Also, the initiating security gateway may also include a Quality of Service (QoS) module that determines QoS markings for a packet traveling along the tunnel.

A system and method providing Internet protocol security without secure domain name resolution are disclosed. A processor that periodically needs to resolve domain names into network addresses has a local DNS server that includes a secure IPSEC cache, a resolver function, a security policy database, and an IPSEC layer. The cache is readable only by the IPSEC layer. Resolved domain names are cached with process and transaction identifiers that uniquely associate the resolved names with an application process and time. When resolution is needed, the cache is used to ensure that IP addresses are resolved from names that came from the application. As a result, IPSEC connections may be established without use of DNSSEC to provide secure domain name resolution.

A mechanism to facilitate a private network (VPN)-as-a-service, preferably within the context of an overlay IP routing mechanism implemented within an overlay network. The overlay provides delivery of packets end-to-end between overlay network appliances positioned at the endpoints. During such delivery, the appliances are configured such that the data portion of each packet has a distinct encryption context from the encryption context of the TCP / IP portion of the packet. By establishing and maintaining these distinct encryption contexts, the overlay network can decrypt and access the TCP / IP flow. This enables the overlay network provider to apply one or more TCP optimizations. At the same time, the separate encryption contexts ensure the data portion of each packet is never available in the clear at any point during transport. According to another feature, data flows within the overlay directed to a particular edge region may be load-balanced while still preserving IPsec replay protection.

Methods and systems for secure communications are provided. Secure end-to-end connections are established as separate multiple secure connections, illustratively between a first system and an intermediate system and between a second system and an intermediate system. The multiple secure connections may be bound, by binding Internet Protocol Security Protocol (IPSec) Security Associations (SAs) for the multiple connections, for example, to establish the end-to-end connection. In the event of a change in operating conditions which would normally require the entire secure connection to be re-established, only one of the multiple secure connections which form the end-to-end connection is re-established. Separation of end-to-end connections in this manner may reduce processing resource requirements and latency normally associated with re-establishing secure connections.

The invention provides mechanisms for transferring processor control of secure Internet Protocol (IPSec) security association (SA) functions between a host and a target processing devices of a computerized system, such as processors in a host CPU and a NIC. In one aspect of the invention, the computation associated with authentication and / or encryption is offloaded while the host maintains control of when SA functions are offloaded, uploaded, invalidated, and re-keyed. The devices coordinate to maintain metrics for the SA, including support for both soft and hard limits on SA expiration. Timer requirements are minimized for the target. The offloaded SA function may be embedded in other offloaded state objects of intermediate software layers of a network stack.

Embodiments of the invention authenticate devices and establish secure connections between devices using static Diffie-Hellman key pairs. A first device obtains in a trusted manner a static DH public key of a second device prior to negotiation. The second device negotiates a secure connection to the first device using a shared secret created from the static DH public key, which serves as both a claim on the second device's identity and an encryption key. The static DH public key can be used to establish subsequent secure, authenticated communications sessions.

Methods and apparatus' for performing IPSec processing on an IP packet being transmitted onto a network and being received from a network are described. The methods and apparatus' further described perform IPSec processing inline which results in a reduced number of transfers over the system bus, reduced utilization of system memory, and a reduced utilization of the system CPU. An IP packet which requires IPSec processing enters an acceleration device. In one embodiment, the acceleration device is coupled to a security policy database (SPD) and security association database (SAD). IPSec processing is performed at the acceleration device without sending the IP Packet to system memory for processing.

The invention relates to a network interface system for interfacing a host system with a network. The network interface system includes a bus interface system, a media access control system, and a security system. The network interface offloads IPsec processing from the host processor. According to the invention, the security system includes two processors for encrypting and authenticating the outgoing data. Outgoing data packets are sent alternately to one or the other processor, whereby transmission processing can be accelerated relative to receive processing.

An approach for facilitating secure communications among multicast nodes in a telecommunications network is disclosed. A source node sends an encryption key and an identifier to an authoritative node that stores the encryption key and associates the identifier with the encryption key. The source node encrypts data using the encryption key and sends the encrypted data with the identifier in a multicast. The multicast destination nodes retrieve the encryption key from the authoritative node based on the identifier and then decrypt the multicast. A list of administrative nodes, a list of authorized nodes, and an expiration time may be used to manage the encryption key. The authoritative node may be a certificate authority or key distribution center, and the source node may encrypt the multicast using the Internet security protocol (IPsec) or secure socket layer (SSL). Thus, communications among multicast nodes may be efficiently secured in a scalable manner.

A method and apparatus for providing at least two virtual private network VPN tunnels from a client device in a VPN network having an enterprise gateway and a network VPN gateway. The method and apparatus includes a client device having an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) module for establishing the at least two tunnels using an IKE protocol wherein a first tunnel is an end-to-end VPN tunnel to the enterprise gateway, and a second tunnel is a network-based tunnel to the network VPN gateway. An IPsec Network Driver Interface interfaces with the IKE module, which includes a security authentication database (SADB) that stores downloaded enterprise security policies respectively for each of the at least two tunnels. A routing table stores IP addresses of local presences and hosts respectively associated with the at least two tunnels, whereby packets are routed over the at least two tunnels based on the downloaded policies.

A security gateway, for use in a network system for linking at least a client end and a server end, includes a user interface, a SSL VPN driver, a connection interface and an IPSEC VPN driver. The security gateway supports IPSEC and SSL protocols. Before establishing an IPSEC VPN between a client end and a server end, the security gateway will perform ID authentication for the user of the client end with a widely-used SSL protocol, so as to establish a SSL VPN between a server end and a client end. When the ID of the client end is authorized, a configuration file comprising the SA is generated and then safely sent to the client end through the SSL VPN tunnel. After the client end receives and executes the configuration file having the SA, an IPSEC VPN tunnel between the server end and the client end is established.

A system and method for ensuring that machines having invalid or corrupt states are restricted from accessing host resources are provided. A quarantine agent (QA) located on a client machine acquires statements of health from a plurality of quarantine policy clients. The QA packages the statements and provides the package to a quarantine enforcement client (QEC). The QEC sends the package to a quarantine Health Certificate Server (HCS) with a request for a health certificate. If the client provided valid statements of health, the HCS grants the client health certificate that may be used in IPsec session negotiation.

A method and apparatus for updating an anti-replay window in Internet Protocol Security (IPSec). The method includes determining whether a difference between a sequence number extracted from a received packet and a maximum value of a sequence number of an anti-replay window is greater than a predetermined value; if it is determined that the difference is greater than the predetermined value, creating a first bit map based on a size of the anti-replay window and a second bit map based on the sequence number extracted from the received packet, respectively; comparing the number of bit values in the first bit map of packets received during a predetermined time with the number of bit values in the second bit map of packets received during the predetermined time, and updating the anti-replay window.

An architecture for a high performance IPSEC accelerator. The architecture includes components for scanning fields of packets, programming an IPSEC services device according to the scanned fields, and modifying the scanned packet with an output from the IPSEC security services device. Preferably, the architecture is implemented in hardware, and attached to a host machine. Hardware devices, fast in comparison to software processing and network speeds, allows the computationally intensive IPSEC processes to be completed in real-time and reduce or eliminate bottlenecks in the path of a packet being sent or received to / from a network.

A novel and useful virtual private network (VPN) mechanism and related security association processor for maintaining the necessary security related parameters to perform security functions such as encryption, decryption and authentication. A security association database (SAD) and related circuitry is adapted to provide the necessary parameters to implement the IPSec group of security specifications for encryption / decryption and authentication. Each security association (SA) entry in the database comprises all the parameters that are necessary to receive and transmit VPN packets according to the IPSec specification.

A mobile node may roam away from its home network to a foreign network. The mobile node may communicate using the Mobile Internet Protocol, and it may use Internet Protocol security to communicate with its home network. A foreign agent on the foreign network and a home agent on the home network may dynamically link a policy to be used for a Internet Protocol security session between the foreign agent and the home agent. The foreign agent and the home agent may dynamically create a filter to be used for the Internet Protocol Security session.

A method for performing policy-based configuration of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is provided. According to one embodiment, a browser-based interface of a network device displays a policy page through which multiple settings may be configured for a VPN connection. The settings include a type of IPSec tunnel to be established between the network device and a peer. One or more parameter values corresponding to one or more of the settings are received and responsive thereto a policy file is created or modified corresponding to the VPN connection. The policy file has contained therein multiple parameter values corresponding to the settings. Establishment of the VPN connection between the network device and the peer is requested based on the parameter values contained within the policy file by sending a notification request, including the policy file, from the network device to the peer.

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for methods and apparatus for facilitating a secure connection between a first and a second node in a computer network where one or both of the nodes may or may not reside behind a network address translation (NAT) enabled gateway. Embodiments of the present invention provide a seamless integration by providing a uniform solution for establishing secure connections, such as IPSEC, between two nodes irrespective of whether they are behind a NAT-enabled gateway or not. In general, a gateway is operable to receive a request from a remote host for a secure connection to a local host that within the home network of the gateway. The gateway then forwards this received request to a NAT traversal service. The NAT traversal service receives the request and then automatically sends an initiation message to set up a secure session, e.g., performing authentication and exchanging keys. In a specific aspect, the setup data utilizes an IKE (Internet Key Exchange) initiation message that is sent to the originator of the request via the gateway. Upon receipt of this initiation message, the gateway is then able to set up a two way connection to allow other setup data to flow between the remote and local hosts to complete the setup session and then secure data to flow between the remote and local hosts in a secure communication session, such as in IPSec or VPN session.

An IP-based corporate network architecture and method for providing seamless secure mobile networking across office WLAN, home WLAN, public WLAN, and 2.5 G / 3 G cellular networks for corporate wireless data users. The system includes Internet roaming clients (IRCs), a secure mobility gateway (SMG), optional secure IP access (SIA) gateways, and a virtual single account (VSA) server. The IRC is a special client tool installed on a mobile computer (laptop or PDA) equipped with a WLAN adaptor and a cellular modem. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining a mobile IPsec tunnel between the mobile computer and a corporate intranet. The SMG is a mobile IPsec gateway installed between the corporate intranet and the Internet. It works in conjunction with the IRC to maintain the mobile IPsec tunnel when the mobile computer is connected on the Internet via a home WLAN, a public WLAN, or a cellular network. The SIA gateway is a special IPsec gateway installed in the middle of the wired corporate intranet and an office WLAN. It works with the IRC to ensure data security and efficient use of corporate IP addresses when the mobile computer is connected to the office WLAN. The VSA server manages authentication credentials for every corporate user based on a virtual single account concept. The Internet Roaming system can provide secure, always-on office network connectivity for corporate users no matter where they are located using best available wireless networks.

A system and method for interconnecting multiple VPNs, each using multiple service providers, while offering a minimum standard of end-to-end connection quality and reliability is described. The system and method utilizes an overseer that resolves end-to-end issues across multiple interconnected virtual private networks. When connecting multiple virtual private networks, multiple interconnect providers are interconnected so that the end-to-end service quality standard is met. The certification of service providers, exchange points, transit service providers and IPSec devices permits interoperability for encryption, integrity and authentication across the product of all IPSec vendors. When two subscribers both use certified IPSec equipment then they can provide each other with controlled access to each other's networks.

By assigning a fixed home address to an MN, Mobile IPv6 assures the arrival of each content at the MN 1. In order to allow the user to receive a Mobile IPv6 service, it is necessary to provide the MN 1 with a Mobile IPv6 function for making applications conform to IPv6. However, there are only few such MNs 1. In addition, the MN 1 does not have a function for implementing an IPsec process repeatedly on a packet transmitted to and received from another apparatus. A scenario processing port 23 employed in the MN 1 includes a means, which is used for selecting a process according to a communication method and carrying out the selected process when a response to a Mobile IPv6 location registration message is received. By providing the scenario processing port 23 with a means for selecting a communication method, a function can be added to the MN 1 with ease. In addition, by providing the MN 1 with a means for implementing an IPsec process a plurality of times, it is possible to provide a communication apparatus according to a security management configuration.