Systems and methods for secure network communication

An enforcement switch in communication with a third-party device and a wide area network (WAN) router for assuring secure and efficient network communications within a wide area network, wherein the WAN router in communication with an external device that is located in a remote location from the enforcement switch and is external to the WAN and wherein the third-party device is a WAN optimizer and is unable to process secure frames, and wherein the enforcement switch is configured to:

• receive a secure frame from the external device via the WAN router, wherein the secure frame includes one or more security features and wherein the secure frame is destined for one or more of a plurality of access devices;
• determine whether the secure frame complies with a security policy;
• if the determination is that the secure frame complies, decode and transmit the secure frame;
• and
• if the determination is that the secure frame does not comply, drop the secure frame and prevent further transmission of the secure frame;
• if the determination is that the secure frame complies, enforcement switch is configured to:
• generate a regular frame based on the secure frame, wherein the regular frame is generated by removing the one or more security features;
• and
• transmit the regular frame to the third-party device, wherein the third-party device is configured to determine optimal routing of the regular frame to the one or more of the plurality of access devices by identifying one or more core devices and transmitting the regular frame to the identified one or more core devices.

A computer implemented method for secure and efficient network communications within a wide area network (WAN), said method implemented on an enforcement switch in communication with a third-party device and a WAN router, the WAN router in communication with an external device, wherein the external device is located remotely from the enforcement switch and is external to the WAN and wherein the third-party device is a WAN optimizer and is unable to process secure frames, said method comprising:

• receiving a secure frame from the external device via the WAN router, wherein the secure frame includes one or more security features and wherein the secure frame is destined for one or more of a plurality of access devices, wherein each access device of the plurality of access devices is configured to receive the secure frames and deliver the secure frames to end users of the plurality of access devices;
• generating, by the enforcement switch, a regular frame based on the secure frame in response to determining that the secure frame complies with a security policy, wherein the regular frame is generated by removing the one or more security features;
• and
• transmitting, by the enforcement switch, the regular frame to the third-party device, wherein the third- party device is configured to:
• (i) determine optimal routing of the regular frame to the one or more of the plurality of access devices by identifying one or more core devices of at least one of a plurality of core devices and (ii) transmit the regular frame to the identified one or more core devices of the at least one of a plurality of core devices.