Blue Coat Systems, Inc.

Cameron Charles Smith

Vilis Ositis

Alexander Wade Campbell

Lee Thomas Dolsen

Paul Hutchison

Methods and systems for blocking unwanted software downloads within a network. Such methods may thereby prevent (i) downloads of spyware from one or more identified locations, and/or (ii) certain outbound communications from the network and/or may also permit software downloads only from specified locations. In general, the policies are defined by rules specified by a network administrator or other user.

Methods and apparatus for blocking unwanted software downloads

A transparent load balancer receives incoming Ethernet frames having incoming source and destination IP and MAC addresses. The load balancer diverts the incoming frames to one of several multi-application platforms. The incoming frames are communicated across a first TCP connection that terminates on a multi-application platform. The first TCP connection is defined by TCP source and destination ports. The transparent load balancer receives outgoing frames from the multi-application platform and outputs the outgoing frames with source and destination IP and MAC addresses that are identical to the incoming source and destination IP and MAC addresses. The outgoing frames are communicated across a second TCP connection, the second TCP connection being defined by the same TCP source port and TCP destination port of the first TCP connection. The transparent load balancer and multi-application platforms can be inserted into a running network without noticeable interruption to devices on the network.

Transparent load balancer for network connections

A multi-application transparent platform intercepts an incoming application file communicated from a source across a first TCP connection by terminating the first TCP connection on the multi-application transparent platform and supplying the application file to an application program. The application file is received onto the platform in the form of multiple incoming Ethernet frames. The application layer program analyzes the application file and identifies characteristics of the application file, such as virus content, that are not apparent in the individual Ethernet frames that carried the application file over the first TCP connection. The platform resends the application file over a second TCP connection in outgoing frames having the same IP addresses and Ethernet MAC addresses as the incoming frames. The platform can be inserted into a running network without reconfiguring devices on the network.

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Redwood City, CA, United States of America

Cameron Charles Smith