Method and system for adaptive rule-based content scanners for desktop computers

1. A security system for scanning content within a computer, comprising:

a network interface, housed within a computer, for receiving incoming content from the Internet on its destination to an Internet application running on the computer;

a database of parser and analyzer rules corresponding to computer exploits, stored within the computer, computer exploits being portions of program code that are malicious, wherein the parser and analyzer rules describe computer exploits as patterns of types of tokens, tokens being program code constructs, and types of tokens comprising a punctuation type, an identifier type and a function type;

a rule-based content scanner that communicates with said database of parser and analyzer rules, operatively coupled with said network interface, for scanning incoming content received by said network interface to recognize the presence of potential computer exploits therewithin;

a network traffic probe, operatively coupled to said network interface and to said rule-based content scanner, for selectively diverting incoming content from its intended destination to said rule-based content scanner; and

a rule update manager that communicates with said database of parser and analyzer rules, for updating said database of parser and analyzer rules periodically to incorporate new parser and analyzer rules that are made available.

2. The security system of claim 1 wherein said database of parser and analyzer rules stores parser and analyzer rules in the form of pattern-matching engines.

3. The security system of claim 2 wherein the pattern-matching engines are deterministic finite automata.

4. The security system of claim 2 wherein the pattern-matching engines are non-deterministic finite automata.

5. The security system of claim 1 further comprising a content blocker, operatively coupled to said rule-based content scanner, for preventing incoming content having a computer exploit that was recognized by said rule-based content scanner from reaching its intended destination.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is HTTP content.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is HTTPS content.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is FTP content.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is SMTP content.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is POP3 content.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the destination Internet application is a web browser.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the destination Internet application is an e-mail client.

13. A method for scanning content within a computer, comprising:

receiving, at the computer, incoming content from the Internet on its destination to an Internet application;

selectively diverting, by the computer, the received incoming content from its intended destination;

scanning, by the computer, the selectively diverted incoming content to recognize potential computer exploits therewithin, based on a database of parser and analyzer rules corresponding to computer exploits, computer exploits being portions of program code that are malicious, wherein the parser and analyzer rules describe computer exploits as patterns of types of tokens, tokens being program code constructs, and types of tokens comprising a punctuation type, an identifier type and a function type; and

updating the database of parser and analyzer rules periodically to incorporate new behavioral rules that are made available.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said database of parser and analyzer rules stores parser and analyzer rules in the form of pattern-matching engines.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the pattern-matching engines are deterministic finite automata.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the pattern-matching engines are non-deterministic finite automata.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising preventing incoming content having a computer exploit that was recognized by said scanning from reaching its intended destination.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is HTTP content.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is HTTPS content.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is FTP content.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is SMTP content.

22. The method of claim 13 wherein the incoming content received from the Internet by said network interface is POP3 content.

23. The method of claim 13 wherein the destination Internet application is a web browser.

24. The method of claim 13 wherein the destination Internet application is an e-mail client.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, the medium excluding signals, storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

receiving incoming content from the Internet on its destination to an Internet application;

selectively diverting the received incoming content from its intended destination;

scanning the selectively diverted incoming content to recognize potential exploits therewithin, based on a database of parser and analyzer rules corresponding to computer exploits, computer exploits being portions of program code that are malicious, wherein the parser and analyzer rules describe exploits as patterns of types of tokens, tokens being program code constructs, and types of tokens comprising a punctuation type, an identifier type and a function type;

and updating the database of parser and analyzer rules periodically to incorporate new parser and analyzer rules that are made available.