Filtering Network Data Transfers

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a packet filtering device, a plurality of packets, wherein:
• each packet of the plurality of packets comprises an internet protocol (IP) packet header and an application packet;
• each IP packet header comprises a plurality of IP packet header field values;
• and
• each application packet comprises a plurality of application header field values within an application header;
• determining that a portion of the plurality of packets have at least one IP packet header field value that corresponds to a packet filtering rule of a plurality of packet filtering rules;
• responsive to a determination that the portion of the plurality of packets have at least one IP packet header field value corresponding to the packet filtering rule, applying an operator specified by the packet filtering rule, wherein the operator specifies one or more application header field value criteria;
• determining whether one or more of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values corresponding to the one or more application header field value criteria specified by the operator;
• responsive to a determination that a first subset of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values corresponding to the one or more application header field criteria specified by the operator, applying at least one packet transformation function specified by the operator to the first subset of the portion of the plurality of packets;
• and
• responsive to a determination that a second subset of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values not corresponding to the one or more application header field criteria specified by the operator, applying one or more additional packet filtering rules to the second subset of the portion of the plurality of packets.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a packet filtering device to:

• receive a plurality of packets, wherein:
• each packet of the plurality of packets comprises an internet protocol (IP) packet header and an application packet;
• each IP packet header comprises a plurality of IP packet header field values;
• and
• each application packet comprises a plurality of application header field values within an application header;
• determine that a portion of the plurality of packets have at least one IP packet header field value that corresponds to a packet filtering rule of a plurality of packet filtering rules;
• responsive to a determination that the portion of the plurality of packets have at least one IP packet header field value corresponding to the packet filtering rule, apply an operator specified by the packet filtering rule, wherein the operator specifies one or more application header field value criteria;
• determine whether one or more of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values corresponding to the one or more application header field value criteria specified by the operator;
• responsive to a determination that a first subset of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values corresponding to the one or more application header field criteria specified by the operator, apply at least one packet transformation function specified by the operator to the first subset of the portion of the plurality of packets;
• and
• responsive to a determination that a second subset of the portion of the plurality of packets have one or more application header field values not corresponding to the one or more application header field criteria specified by the operator, apply one or more additional packet filtering rules to the second subset of the portion of the plurality of packets.