Abstract: An approach is proposed that contemplates system and method to configure firewall rules of a VPN gateway of a protected network so that users of devices in the protected network can access Internet securely via a captive network. First, the proposed approach enables the VPN gateway to probe the captive network with an HTTP request to discover a captive portal of the captive network. After the captive portal is discovered, one or more firewall rules of the VPN gateway are added so that network traffic from the devices in the protected network are redirected to the captive portal for authentication. Once the users are authenticated and a VPN tunnel is established between the VPN gateway and a remote VPN tunnel terminal, the firewall rules previously added are removed from the VPN gateway and all network traffic from the devices in the protected network are routed over the VPN tunnel.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support a sandboxed application plug-in distribution framework. An installation package containing a monitoring plug-in, a display plug-in, and/or third part components is received by a first application running on a first computing device. The first application installs the display plug-in and saves the monitoring plug-in to a centralized database. The first application sends an instruction to a second application running on a second computing device to retrieve the monitoring plug-in from the database and install the monitoring plug-in on the second computing device. Upon receiving a user request, the display plug-in of the first application sends a query to the monitor plug-in of the second application. In response to the query, the monitoring plug-in sends the requested monitored data collected by the second application to the display plug-in, which then formats and presents the monitored data to the user.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support human activity tracking and authenticity verification of human-originated digital assets. First, activities performed by a producer while he/she is constructing a digital asset, e.g., an electronic message, are captured. Information/metadata of the captured activities are then packaged/encapsulated inside the constructed digital asset, wherein such metadata includes but is not limited to mouse and/or keyboard activities, software tools used, and other digital traces of the captured human activities. Once the digital asset is transmitted and received by a consumer, the metadata included in the digital asset is unpacked and analyzed to determine various levels of authenticity of the digital asset with respect to whether the digital asset is originated manually by a human being or automatically by a software program. The consumer may then take actions accordingly based on the level of authenticity of the received digital asset.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed to support generating and presenting a single composite Cyber Security Threat Index (CSTI) to a user, wherein the CSTI provides the user with an indication of risk of cyber attacks globally and/or in the context of his/her current networking environment. First, various pools of operational data are collected over networks, systems, and/or products, wherein such data includes files being weaponized in the cyber attacks against computer systems and networks, the surfaces and contexts on which the cyber attacks are launched, and influential factors on these data. The data collected from various pools is then synchronized, correlated, and filtered/cleansed so that it can be used to assess risk of the cyber attacks. The CSTI is calculated based on the correlated data on the cyber attacks and interactively presented to the user, who then takes corresponding remediation actions to prevent a cyber attack from happening or spreading.

Abstract: An approach is proposed that contemplates system and method to configure firewall rules of a VPN gateway of a protected network so that users of devices in the protected network can access Internet securely via a captive network. First, the proposed approach enables the VPN gateway to probe the captive network with an HTTP request to discover a captive portal of the captive network. After the captive portal is discovered, one or more firewall rules of the VPN gateway are added so that network traffic from the devices in the protected network are redirected to the captive portal for authentication. Once the users are authenticated and a VPN tunnel is established between the VPN gateway and a remote VPN tunnel terminal, the firewall rules previously added are removed from the VPN gateway and all network traffic from the devices in the protected network are routed over the VPN tunnel.

Abstract: A device includes a database, a controller, and a PVN router. The database is configured to store network settings information and tracks devices connected to a network. The controller is configured to control access of devices to one another after establishing a connection to the network. The PVN router is configured to receive a provisioning request from a requesting to connect to the network. The PVN router is further configured to transmit a provisioning response to the requesting device based on instantiation of a PVN template received from the database. The PVN template is generated based on the network settings information and further based on the control access determined by the controller. The provisioning response establishes a connection between the requesting device and the network. The requesting device is inaccessible by a subset of devices already connected in the network after the connection is established and vice versa.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support safe preview and immediate delivery of a document from a document producer to an end user while protecting the user from accidentally opening the original document if it has been tampered with by an email attacker. First, the original document is submitted to a safe preview server cluster, where a passcode is generated for the document and the document is processed for policy assessments of possible security threats. The document is then encrypted with the generated passcode and provided to the user together with results of the policy assessments and a preview of content of the document for preview upon request. Based on the user's choice, the user can retrieve the passcode from the server and decrypt the document with the passcode wherein the original document is deleted from the safe preview server cluster once it is downloaded.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support bulk authentication of a device associated with a user to all cloud-based services the device intends to access in one transaction instead of authenticating the device against each of the services individually. First, the device generates and transmits to one or more authentication service clusters an authentication request that includes its identification and authentication credentials in order to access to a plurality of services. Upon receiving the authentication request, the authentication service cluster(s) authenticate the device for all of the services to be accessed based on the information in the authentication request. Once the device is authenticated, the authentication service cluster(s) then retrieve entitlement information of the services to be accessed by the device, and identify the service clusters/nodes that the device will connect to for the services with the fastest response time.

Abstract: A device includes a database, a controller, and a PVN router. The database is configured to store network settings information and tracks devices connected to a network. The controller is configured to control access of devices to one another after establishing a connection to the network. The PVN router is configured to receive a provisioning request from a requesting to connect to the network. The PVN router is further configured to transmit a provisioning response to the requesting device based on instantiation of a PVN template received from the database. The PVN template is generated based on the network settings information and further based on the control access determined by the controller. The provisioning response establishes a connection between the requesting device and the network. The requesting device is inaccessible by a subset of devices already connected in the network after the connection is established and vice versa.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support bulk authentication of a device associated with a user to all cloud-based services the device intends to access in one transaction instead of authenticating the device against each of the services individually. First, the device generates and transmits to one or more authentication service clusters an authentication request that includes its identification and authentication credentials in order to access to a plurality of services. Upon receiving the authentication request, the authentication service cluster(s) authenticate the device for all of the services to be accessed based on the information in the authentication request. Once the device is authenticated, the authentication service cluster(s) then retrieve entitlement information of the services to be accessed by the device, and identify the service clusters/nodes that the device will connect to for the services with the fastest response time.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support bulk authentication of an appliance associated with a user to all cloud-based services the appliance intends to access in one transaction instead of authenticating the appliance against each of the services individually. First, the appliance generates and transmits to an authentication service cluster an authentication request that includes its identification and authentication credentials in order to access to a plurality of services. Upon receiving the authentication request, the authentication service cluster authenticates the appliance for all of the services to be accessed based on the information in the authentication request. Once the appliance is authenticated, the authentication service cluster then retrieves entitlement information of the services to be accessed by the appliance, and identifies the service clusters/nodes that the appliance will connect to for the services with the fastest response time.

Abstract: A device includes a database, a controller, and a PVN router. The database is configured to store network settings information and tracks devices connected to a network. The controller is configured to control access of devices to one another after establishing a connection to the network. The PVN router is configured to receive a provisioning request from a requesting to connect to the network. The PVN router is further configured to transmit a provisioning response to the requesting device based on instantiation of a PVN template received from the database. The PVN template is generated based on the network settings information and further based on the control access determined by the controller. The provisioning response establishes a connection between the requesting device and the network. The requesting device is inaccessible by a subset of devices already connected in the network after the connection is established and vice versa.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support interactive moderation of network traffic, where authorization to access certain web media content is approved or denied on a per-content item basis in real time. When a content requester initiates a request for a piece of web media content from a content provider over the Internet, the request is intercepted and either allowed, denied, or marked as requiring further approval based on content access policies and restrictions specific to the content requester. If the content request is marked as requiring further approval, it will be forwarded to a traffic moderator, which will make a decision on the request based on policies related to the content requester and the requested web media content in real time. The requester is then either allowed or denied access to the web media content based on the decision by the traffic moderator.

Abstract: A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to support bulk authentication of an appliance associated with a user to all cloud-based services the appliance intends to access in one transaction instead of authenticating the appliance against each of the services individually. First, the appliance generates and transmits to an authentication service cluster an authentication request that includes its identification and authentication credentials in order to access to a plurality of services. Upon receiving the authentication request, the authentication service cluster authenticates the appliance for all of the services to be accessed based on the information in the authentication request. Once the appliance is authenticated, the authentication service cluster then retrieves entitlement information of the services to be accessed by the appliance, and identifies the service clusters/nodes that the appliance will connect to for the services with the fastest response time.

Abstract: A network gateway coupled to a backup server on a wide area network which receives and de-duplicates binary objects. The backup server provides selected data segments of binary objects to the gateway to store into a prescient cache (p-cache) store. The network gateway optimizes network traffic by fulfilling a local client request from its local p-cache store instead of requiring further network traffic when it matches indicia of stored data segments stored in its p-cache store with indicia of a first segment of a binary object requested from and received from a remote server.

Abstract: A system at a central server and at a plurality of web filters is installed to observe traffic and to protect users from attempting connection to suspicious, malicious, and/or infectious targets. Targets are defined as Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Traffic is collected, analyzed, and reported for further analysis. Behavior is analyzed for each client attempting a connection to an uncategorized target. IP addresses and URIs are evaluated toward placement in either a Trusted target store or an Anomalous target store. The accumulated content of Anomalous target store is provided back to the Network Service Subscriber Clients. Warnings and tools are presented when appropriate.

Abstract: Network security administrators are enabled to revoke certificates with their customizable certificate authority reputation policy store which is informed by an independent certificate authority reputation server when a CA is deprecated or has fraudulent certificate generation. The custom policy store overrides trusted root certificate stores accessible to an operating system web networking layer or to a third party browser. Importing revocation lists or updating browsers or operating system is made redundant. The apparatus protects an endpoint from a man-in-the-middle attack when a certificate authority has lost control over certificates used in TLS.

Abstract: Enabling web filtering by authenticated group membership, role, or user identity is provided by embedding a uniform resource identifier into an electronic document requested by a client. A client browser will provide directory credentials to a trusted web filter apparatus enabling a policy controlled access to resources external to the trusted network. An apparatus comprises circuits for transmitting a uniform resource identifier to a client, receiving a request comprising authentication credentials, querying a policy database and determining a customized policy for access to an externally sourced electronic document or application. A computer-implemented technique to simplify web filter administrator tasks by removing a need to set each browsers settings or install additional software on each user terminal.

Abstract: Network security administrators are enabled to revoke certificates with their customizable certificate authority reputation policy store which is informed by an independent certificate authority reputation server when a CA is deprecated or has fraudulent certificate generation. The custom policy store overrides trusted root certificate stores accessible to an operating system web networking layer or to a third party browser. Importing revocation lists or updating browsers or operating system is made redundant. The apparatus protects an endpoint from a man-in-the-middle attack when a certificate authority has lost control over certificates used in TLS.

Abstract: A network apparatus, system, and method for operating a server to identify and subsequently control suspected peer-to-peer (P2P) sources transmitting traffic from a first network to a second network. Identifying a peer-to-peer source by a characteristic of destination port profile. Identifying a peer-to-peer source by a characteristic of destination host IP address profile. Determining when hopping ports usage comprise a data stream. Determining when destination IP address usage represent “Seek You” (CQ) like call behavior analogous to a radio invitation for any operators listening to respond.