Controllable interface for providing secure access to external computing resources

Abstract

A system is provided for controlling data communication between a computing device and a network access device over a physical medium. The network access device may be configured for providing access of the computing device to a remote computing resource over a network link. The system involves a Media Access Control (MAC) device for performing a MAC protocol to support data communication between the computing device and the network access device and a physical layer (PHY) device that connects the MAC device to the physical medium. Data path circuitry is provided between the PHY device and the MAC device for transferring signals from the computing device to the network access device, and from the network access device to the computing device. The data path circuitry is controlled to establish a unidirectional signal transfer mode between the computing device and the network access device by preventing the signals from being transferred to the network access device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.