Abstract: A system and method for providing peer-level access control on networks that carry packets of information, each packet having a 5-tuple having a source and destination address, a source and destination port, and a protocol identifier. The local rule base of a peer is dynamically loaded into a filter when the peer is authenticated, and ejected when the peer is loses authentication. The local rule base is efficiently searched through the use of hash tables wherein a hashed peer network address serves as a pointer the peer's local rules. Each rule comprises a 5-tuple and an action. The action of a rule is carried out on a packet when the 5-tuple of the rule corresponds to the 5-tuple of the packet.

Abstract: A cache for use with a network filter that receives, stores and ejects local rule bases dynamically. The cache stores a rule that was derived from a rule base in the filter. The cache rule is associated in the cache with a rule base indicator indicating from which rule base the cache rule was derived, and a rule base version number indicating the version of the rule base from which the cache rule was derived. When the filter receives a packet, the cache is searched for a rule applicable to a received packet. If no such rule is found, the filter rule base is found, and an applicable rule is carried out and copied to the cache along with a rule base indicator and version number. If a cache rule is found, it is implemented if its version number matches the version number of the rule base from which it was derived. Otherwise, the cache rule is deleted. The cache provides an efficient way of accurately implementing the rules of a dynamic rule base without having to search the entire rule base for each packet.