Splitting an SSL Connection Between Gateways

A method for secure communication, comprising:

• forwarding, from a first security computer to a second security computer, a connection request message from a client computer to connect to a server computer, wherein the first security computer and the second security computer are communicatively coupled via a non-SSL connection;
• establishing by a first SSL connector an SSL connection between the second security computer and the server computer, comprising performing, by the second security computer, an SSL handshake with the server computer using a signed certificate provided by the server computer;
• appending, by a protocol appender of the second security computer, attributes of the signed certificate provided by the server computer within a reply message header communicated to the first security computer, the attributes including a domain name and a validity date, but not including the signed certificate;
• receiving, by an intermediate computer over a non-SSL connection with the second security computer, the reply message;
• communicating, by the intermediate computer over a non-SSL connection with the first security computer, the reply message;
• receiving, by the first security computer, the reply message including the header containing the certificate attributes of the server computer certificate;
• creating, by the first security computer, a signed certificate from the received certificate attributes of the server computer certificate and storing the certificate attributes of the server computer certificate in a certificate cache;
• and
• establishing by a second SSL connector an SSL connection between the first security computer and the client computer, comprising performing an SSL handshake with the client computer using the signed certificate created by said creating.

A system for secure communication, comprising:

• a first security computer for forwarding a request message from a client computer to connect to a server computer to a second security computer;
• the second security computer including a first connector for establishing a secure connection between the second security computer and the server computer using a signed certificate provided by the server computer;
• the second security computer further including a protocol appender for appending attributes of the signed certificate provided by the server computer within a reply message header, the attributes including a domain name and a validity date;
• an intermediate computer connected to the second security computer and the first security computer by a non-SSL connection for receiving the reply message including the header containing the certificate attributes of the server computer certificate from the second security computer responsive to the request message and forwarding to the first security computer;
• the first security computer including a certificate creator for creating a proxy certificate from the received certificate attributes of the server computer certificate;
• and
• the first security computer further including a second connector for establishing a secure connection between the first security computer and the client computer, using the created proxy certificate.