Method and system for transmitting information across a firewall

The method (300,400) according to any claim from 1 to 3, wherein the message is sent from the transmitting computer to the transmitting proxy using a first insecure protocol, the message is transmitted from the transmitting proxy to the receiving proxy using a second secure protocol, and the message is forwarded from the receiving proxy to the receiving computer using the first protocol.

The method (300,400) according any claim from 5 to 8, further including the steps of:

• detecting (320) the first address of each first computer sending a message to the first proxy,
• attaching (325) an indication of the first address to the message by the first proxy, and
• updating (424,426) the first address associated with the dynamic identifier in the memory structure by the second proxy according to the first address attached to the message.

The method (300,400) according any claim from 5 to 9, wherein the at least one first computer and the at least one first proxy consist of a plurality of first computers and a plurality of first proxies, respectively, an identifier of the first proxies being stored in a further memory structure on the second proxy, the method further including the steps under the control of the second proxy of:

• associating (454) the identifier of a current first proxy from which the initial login message is received with the corresponding first address and first logical connection in the memory structure,
• determining (446) the current proxy corresponding to each message received from each second computer using the memory structure,
• transmitting (470-474) the message to the current first proxy when available or to a different one of the associated first proxies in the further memory structure otherwise.

The method (300,400) according any claim from 1 to 10, wherein each first computer consists of an endpoint in a demilitarised zone and each second computer consists of a gateway in a private network.

A computer program application (205-255,240-265) directly loadable into a working memory of a data processing system (100) for performing the method of any claim from 1 to 11 when the program application is run on the data processing system.

A system (100) for transmitting information across a firewall (130b) among a plurality of computers (120,135), at least one first (120) of the computers being at a first side of the firewall and at least one second (135) of the computers being at a second side of the firewall, the system including at least one first proxy (125g) and at least one second proxy (125e) associated with the at least one first computer at the first side of the firewall and with the at least one second computer at the second side of the firewall, respectively, a pass through communication tunnel (132) directly connecting each first and second proxy and being secured by mutual authentication of the corresponding first and second proxies, means (225-235) for causing a transmitting one of the computers to send a firewall-incompatible message for a receiving one of the computers at the other side of the firewall to a transmitting one of the associated at least one proxy, means (215;255) for sending the message from the transmitting proxy to a receiving one of the at least one proxy at the other side of the firewall through the corresponding tunnel, means (210;225-235) for associating the message with the receiving computer, and means (210,265;225,245) for forwarding the message from the receiving proxy to the receiving computer.

A data processing system (100) including a firewall (130b), a plurality of computers (120,135), at least one first (120) of the computers being at a first side of the firewall and at least one second (135) of the computers being at a second side of the firewall, at least one first proxy (125g) and at least one second proxy (125e) associated with the at least one first computer at the first side of the firewall and with the at least one second computer at the second side of the firewall, respectively, a pass through communication tunnel (132) directly connecting each first and second proxy and being secured by mutual authentication of the corresponding first and second proxies, means (225-235) for causing a transmitting one of the computers to send a firewall-incompatible message for a receiving one of the computers at the other side of the firewall to a receiving one of the associated at least one proxy, means (215;255) for sending the message from the transmitting proxy to a receiving one of the at least one proxy at the other side of the firewall through the corresponding tunnel, means (210;225-235) for associating the message with the receiving computer, and means (210,265;225,245) for forwarding the message from the receiving proxy to the receiving computer.