Secure request authentication for a threat protection service

Abstract

A client application sends DNS requests to a threat protection service when a mobile device operating the client application is operating off-network. The application is configured to detect network conditions and automatically configure an appropriate system-wide DNS resolution setting. Preferably, DNS requests from the client identify the customer and the device to threat protection (TP) service resolvers without introducing a publicly-visible customer or device identifier to the DNS requests or responses. The TP system then applies the correct policy to DNS requests coming from off-network clients. In particular, the resolver recognizes the customer for requests coming for off net clients and apply the customer's policy to such request. The resolver is configured to log the customer and the device associated with requests from the TP off-net client. Request logs from the TP resolver are provided to a cloud security intelligence platform for threat intelligence analytics and customer visible reporting.