Elastic security services load balancing in a wireless mesh network

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied therein a program executable by a processor for implementing a method for controlling network traffic in a wireless mesh network, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to access digital data at a first wireless mesh node, wherein a cache memory of the first wireless mesh node does not store information regarding the digital data;
• identifying that a second wireless mesh node having access to information regarding the digital data and to which the first wireless mesh node forwarded the request has failed;
• forwarding the request from the first wireless mesh node to a third wireless mesh node having access to the information regarding the digital data and following failure of the second wireless mesh node;
• receiving an indication from the third wireless mesh node that the request is blocked based on the requested digital data having a bad reputation rating indicated by stored information in a cache memory of the third wireless mesh node;
• storing the indication that the requested digital data has the bad reputation rating at a cache memory local to the first wireless mesh node;
• and
• blocking a subsequent request to access the digital data, the subsequent request blocked by the first wireless mesh node based on the stored indication in the cache memory local to the first wireless mesh node.

A system for controlling network traffic in a wireless mesh network, the system comprising:

• a communication interface that communicates over a communication network with a plurality of wireless mesh nodes of a wireless mesh network;
• and
• a processor that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
• receive a request to access digital data at a first wireless mesh node, wherein a cache memory of the first wireless mesh node does not store information regarding the digital data;
• identify that a second wireless mesh node having access to information regarding the digital data and to which the first wireless mesh node forwarded the request has failed;
• forward the request from the first wireless mesh node to a third wireless mesh node having access to the information regarding the digital data and following failure of the second wireless mesh node;
• receive an indication from the third wireless mesh node that the request is blocked based on the requested digital data having a bad reputation rating indicated by stored information in a cache memory of the third wireless mesh node;
• storing the indication that the requested digital data has the bad reputation rating at the cache memory local to the first wireless mesh node;
• and
• block a subsequent request to access the digital data, the subsequent request blocked by the first wireless mesh node based on the stored indication in the cache memory local to the first wireless mesh node.