US 7,127,742 B2Granted

Establishing a secure connection with a private corporate network over a public network

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsMichael Kramer, Donald J. Kadyk, Neil S. Fishman

Life of this patent

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Abstract

An external client securely accesses a private corporate network using a communications device, but without the communications device being required to communicate through the private corporate network when communicating with resources external to the private corporate network. The external client establishes a connection with the private corporate network over the public network such as the Internet using, for example, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The external client then provides security to the connection by running, for example, the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol over the TCP protocol. During the ensuing session with the private corporate network, the communications device establishes a subsequent connection(s) with the external resource.

Claims23

Dependent claims

In a network environment that includes a public network and a private network, the public network including a client external to the private network, a method of a communications device of the external client establishing a secure connection over a public network to the private network without restricting the communications device to working through the private network, the method comprising the following:

a specific act of the external client establishing a connection with a virtual private network access server of the private network over the public network using the communication device, the virtual private network server providing the external client access to the private network as though the external client is part of the private network;
a specific act of the external client providing security to the connection through a communication protocol that resides at or above a socket layer in a protocol stack the external client uses to communicate data;
a specific act of the external client maintaining a session that uses the secure connection to communicate with the private network;
and
during at least a portion of the specific act of the external client maintaining a session that uses the secure connection, a specific act of the communication device retaining the ability to establish a separate and distinct connection with another resource outside of the private network.

2 more elements

In a computer program product for use in a network environment that includes a public network and a private network, the public network including a client external to the private network, the computer program product for implementing a method of a communications device of the external client establishing a secure connection over a public network to the private network without restricting the communications device to working through the private network, the computer program product including a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the following:

a specific act of the external client establishing a connection with a virtual private network access server of the private network, over the public network using the communication device, the virtual private network server providing the external client access to the private network as though the external client is part of the private network;
a specific act of the external client providing security to the connection through a communication protocol that resides at or above a socket layer in a protocol stack the external client uses to communicate data;
a specific act of the external client maintaining a session that uses the secure connection to communicate with the private network;
and
during at least a portion of the specific act of the external client maintaining a session that uses the secure connection, a specific act of the communication device retaining the ability to establish a separate and distinct connection with another resource outside of the private network.

2 more elements

In a network environment that includes a public network and a private network connected to the public network, the public network including a client external to the private network, a method of a server computer system within a private network establishing a secure connection with a communications device of the external client without restricting the communications device to working through the private network, the method comprising the following:

a specific act of a virtual private network access server within the private network facilitating the establishment of a connection with the external client over the public network, the virtual private network server providing the external client access to the private network as though the external client is part of the private network;
and
a specific act of the server computer system facilitating the providing of security to the connection through a communication protocol that resides at or above a socket layer in a protocol stack used to communicate data, wherein the secure connection is established while allowing the external client to maintain the ability to establish a separate and distinct connection directly with one or more external resources rather than having to route communication with the one or more external resources through the private network.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/768,673Filed 24 Jan 2001
Published: US 2002/0099957 A125 Jul 2002
Granted: 24 Oct 2006
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 63/0272
For separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls: virtual private networks
H04L 63/0281
For separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls: proxies
H04L 63/029
For separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls: firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
H04L 63/166
Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer: at the transport layer