Granted Patent B2

US 8,938,773 · App. 12/022,838 · Granted Jan 20, 2015

Abstract

Claims (41)

1. A system for preventing unauthorized transmission of data over a computer network, the system comprising:

a network gateway device in communication with the computer network, the network gateway device configured to receive data in transit between a source and a destination, wherein the network gateway device comprises:

a classification module configured to determine whether the data in transit includes prohibited content;

a context information module configured to generate sender contextual information related to the source of the received data and destination contextual information related to the destination of the received data, wherein the destination contextual information comprises a categorization of the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the destination, and wherein the categorization of the IP address of the destination is based at least in part on website content stored at the destination; and

a transmission policy module configured to determine a transmission policy based on the determination of the classification module and the sender contextual information and the destination contextual information.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database of internet protocol addresses sorted by categories, wherein the categorization of the destination is further based on a comparison of an internet protocol address associated with the destination to the database of internet protocol addresses.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the destination contextual information is further based on a reputation of the destination.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the destination contextual information is further based on a geographic location of the destination.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the sender contextual information comprises an IP address of the data source, a user name or a group of users.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the destination contextual information further comprises an IP address of the destination, a network of the destination or a category of the destination.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein the transmission policy module is further configured to determine whether the network gateway transmits the data or blocks transmission of the data.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the transmission policy module is further configured to report that the data source is attempting to transmit data.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the data source is an electronic device.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of:

a PDA;

a computer; and

a cell phone.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer network is the Internet.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the network gateway further comprises an enforcement module configured to transmit or block the data in response to data received from the transmission policy module.

13. A method of preventing an unauthorized transmission of data over a computer network, the method comprising:

receiving at a network gateway device connected to a network, data in transit between a source and a destination, wherein the source and the destination are in communication with the network;

classifying the data to determine whether the data includes prohibited content;

generating sender contextual information related to the source of the data;

generating destination contextual information related to the destination of the data, wherein the destination contextual information comprises a categorization of the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the destination, wherein the categorization of the IP address of the destination is based on website content stored at the destination; and

determining a transmission policy for the data in response to the classification of the data and the sender contextual information and the destination contextual information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the destination contextual information is further based on a reputation of the destination.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the destination contextual information is further based on a based on a geographic location of the destination.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising storing a database of internet protocol addresses sorted by categories, wherein the categorization of the destination is further based on a comparison of an internet protocol address associated with the destination to the database of internet protocol addresses.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the sender contextual information comprises an IP address of the sender, a user name of the sender or a group name of the user.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the destination contextual information comprises an IP address of the destination, a network of the destination or a category of the destination.

19. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of reporting that the data is to be transmitted.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of classifying the data is performed by a classification module.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of determining the contextual information of the data is performed by a context information module.

22. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of determining a transmission policy for the data is performed by a policy/reporting module.

23. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of sending the data to a network gateway prior to classifying the data.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of sending the data is performed with an electronic device connected to a network.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of:

a PDA;

a computer; and

a cell phone.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the network is the Internet.

Assignments (18)