Network Agent Selective Man-in-the-Middle Decryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Encrypted communication in computer networks poses challenges for network security appliances to inspect data, leading to issues like viruses entering the network undetected and organizational policies being unenforceable, as encrypted traffic cannot be effectively monitored or blocked.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a man-in-the-middle (MitM) encryption and decryption process on each network device, where an agent intercepts communication requests, establishes encrypted connections, and interacts with a policy manager to apply security policies, ensuring that encrypted traffic is decrypted and inspected locally, allowing for real-time policy enforcement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If encrypted communication is used between devices and external resources, then communication security is improved, but network security inspection capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network appliance acting as an intermediary that establishes itself as a man-in-the-middle in the encrypted communication chain. The appliance intercepts encrypted traffic from devices, decrypts it using obtained credentials, inspects the plaintext content for security threats, and then re-encrypts it before forwarding to external resources. This mediator approach allows security inspection while maintaining end-to-end encryption integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the decryption and inspection functionality from the traditional network perimeter security model and places it within the network appliance that acts as a trusted intermediary. By extracting the plaintext inspection capability from the encrypted traffic flow, the system enables security scanning without breaking the overall encryption architecture, allowing threats to be detected and blocked before re-encryption.
2Extent of automation
If centralized security policy enforcement is implemented at network perimeter, then security control is improved, but scalability and device autonomy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the security enforcement function by deploying agents directly on individual devices rather than relying solely on centralized perimeter security. Each device agent can independently enforce security policies locally, enabling autonomous security decisions at the device level while still receiving policy guidance from the network appliance. This segmentation improves both scalability and device adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service security by enabling devices to autonomously enforce security policies through locally installed agents. These agents can independently inspect, block, or allow traffic based on security rules without requiring constant centralized intervention. The device itself serves its own security needs, reducing the burden on centralized security infrastructure and improving responsiveness.
3Device complexity
If computational load of decryption and inspection is centralized, then security management is simplified, but network performance and scalability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the computational workload of decryption and inspection across multiple network appliances and device agents rather than concentrating it in a single centralized system. This distribution of computational tasks prevents any single point from becoming a performance bottleneck, allowing the security infrastructure to scale with network traffic while maintaining manageable complexity through modular architecture.
Data Source
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AI summary
An agent on a device within a network receives a request to access a resource outside the network. A first encrypted connection is established between the device and the agent, and a second encrypted connection is established between the agent and the resource, to facilitate encrypted communication traffic between the device and the resource. The agent sends a policy request to a network appliance within the network, the request specifying the resource. The agent receives a policy response indicating that the resource is associated with one or more security policies of the network. Traffic passing between the device and the resource is selectively decrypted and inspected depending on the security policies.