Content-aware firewalling, policy regulation, and policy management for industrial automation, machine-to-machine communications, and embedded devices

A system, comprising:

• a plurality of network nodes, each network node from the plurality of network nodes in operable communication with a memory storing instructions to cause the network node to:
• receive a policy object having a first language, the policy object defining an operational constraint for an industrial machine associated with that network node;
• detect, in network traffic to the industrial machine associated with that network node, a communication associated with a transaction;
• apply the policy object to the transaction to determine whether the operational constraint is satisfied;
• automatically translate the communication from the first language into a second, control language for use by the industrial machine associated with that network node;
• and
• modify network traffic to the industrial machine associated with that network node based on the determination whether the operational constraint is satisfied.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, at each network node of a plurality of network nodes, a policy object having a first language, the policy object defining an operational constraint for an industrial machine, the industrial machine using a second language that is a control language and is different from the first language;
• and
• uniformly executing a meta-policy at each network node from the plurality of network nodes, by:
• detecting, in network traffic, a communication associated with the industrial machine;
• applying the policy object to the communication to determine whether the operational constraint is satisfied;
• automatically translating the communication from the first language into the second language for use by the industrial machine;
• and
• modifying the network traffic to the industrial machine based on the determination whether the operational constraint is satisfied.