Steven Alsop

Title: Steven Alsop: Firewall Policy Enforcement and Load Balancing

Introduction

Steven Alsop is an inventor associated with Coventry, Great Britain, and Palo Alto Networks, Inc. His patent work addresses how a virtual firewall can enforce security policies when connected to a one-arm load balancer. The supplied information lists one patent for him.

Latest Patents

Alsop’s listed patent, “Supporting zone-based policy enforcement for a firewall connected to a one-arm load balancer,” describes a virtual firewall that can use Layer 3 routing or a bump-in-the-wire (BITW) mode for a session.

After decapsulating a packet to identify its inner header, the firewall performs a route lookup and compares the ingress and egress interfaces. When they are the same, it uses BITW mode for the session; when they differ, it routes the session’s packets using Layer 3 routing. The firewall then applies the selected mode to subsequent packets without repeating inner-header route lookups to determine the mode.

Career Highlights

The available information associates Alsop with Palo Alto Networks, Inc., a company focused on cybersecurity. His listed invention concerns firewall operation and policy enforcement in a network configuration involving a one-arm load balancer.

Collaborations

The supplied details identify Palo Alto Networks, Inc. as Alsop’s company affiliation. They do not specify additional collaborators or co-inventors for the patent.

Conclusion

Steven Alsop’s listed patent presents a method for selecting and maintaining a firewall operating mode based on packet routing information, supporting zone-based policy enforcement alongside a one-arm load balancer.