Jeffrey Howard Schmidt

US Patent:

20020199120, Dec 26, 2002

Filed:

May 6, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/139855

Inventors:

Jeffrey Schmidt - Hilliard OH, US

International Classification:

G06F011/30
G06F015/173

US Classification:

713/201000, 709/224000

Abstract:

A bridge device is located between a user's internal network and an external network such as the internet or other public global computer network. Incoming and/or outgoing network data traffic streams are received into the bridge and processed in the bridge in an effort to prevent malicious or potentially malicious data traffic from reaching the internal network from the external network and/or to prevent malicious or potentially malicious data traffic from reaching the external network from the internal network. The bridge communicates with and is controllable from a remote data center by way of an out-of-band channel such as a dial-up connection or the like. The bridge is configured to contact the remote data center through the out-of-band channel when suspicious and/or potentially malicious activity is detected in the incoming and/or outgoing data streams. The bridge tracks and controls internet usage and other incoming and outgoing network traffic and is also used to inhibit flow of virus-infected e-mails to an internal mail server and/or to create safer substitute e-mails that replace potentially malicious e-mails.

US Patent:

20070180225, Aug 2, 2007

Filed:

Feb 24, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/361554

Inventors:

Jeffrey Schmidt - Hilliard OH, US

International Classification:

H04L 9/00

US Classification:

713152000

Abstract:

An apparatus performs authentication of a remote host and traffic control by analyzing the contents of a digital certificate of the remote host. A switch may be used to control operation of the apparatus.