Granted Patent B1

US 8,185,943 · App. 10/028,652 · Granted May 22, 2012

Abstract

Claims (23)

1. A network adapter, comprising:

a plurality of designated trusted and untrusted ports; and

a processor provisioned in the network adapter, configured for providing firewall capabilities, and coupled within a computer, the network adapter coupled to a network via the ports, wherein network traffic from the trusted ports bypasses the processor, wherein the network adapter processor is configured for:

assembling the network traffic into packets, wherein a subset of the packets greater than a threshold for a maximum size of packets are stored in random access memory of the computer;

performing an initial determination whether certain assembled incoming packets are of interest for screening activities based on, at least, determining a source of the certain assembled incoming packets, a protocol of the certain assembled incoming packets, a timing of the certain assembled incoming packets and content within the certain assembled incoming packets;

determining whether the certain assembled incoming packets of interest violate a plurality of predetermined rules for packet transmissions;

denying access to certain areas of the computer based on a violation of the predetermined rules, wherein the violation is associated with remote access to the computer using an authentication certificate;

granting access to the certain areas of the computer if no violation occurs; and

communicating an alert that signals the violation, wherein the alert is provided using an indicator on the network adapter and the alert includes a plurality of options for addressing the violation.

2. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is capable of being user-configured locally.

3. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ports include physical ports coupled to the network adapter for receiving plugs therein.

4. The network adapter as recited in claim 3 , wherein the trusted ports are visually differentiated from the untrusted ports.

5. The network adapter as recited in claim 4 , wherein the trusted ports are visually differentiated from the untrusted ports utilizing color.

6. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ports are electronic ports.

7. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein received packets are of interest based on an associated protocol.

8. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is capable of passing received packets that are not of interest.

9. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the network adapter includes at least one of: a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) card, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) card, an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) adapter, a cable modem adapter, and a broadband adapter.

10. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein the network adapter includes an adapter circuit that is coupled to the network.

11. The network adapter as recited in claim 10 , wherein the adapter circuit is coupled to the computer.

12. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein non-volatile solid state memory is protected by configuring a bios of the network adapter with a password.

13. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

a packet assembler module configured to utilize header information associated with packets for assembling data fields of received packets.

14. The network adapter as recited in claim 1 , wherein, based on an associated protocol, a predetermined amount of received packets are assembled by a packet assembler module.

Assignments (9)