Systems and methods for protecting network devices by a firewall

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

in response to a request from a client device, establishing, by a computer system, a network tunnel between the client device and a gateway, the gateway implementing a firewall including firewall rules for selectively blocking and allowing network traffic between the client device and one or more network devices in a private network;

in response to an update to a policy after establishing the network tunnel, receiving, by the computer system from the client device, a first token; and

in response to receiving the first token, updating, by the computer system, at least one of the firewall rules in real-time while the network tunnel is active.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the update to the policy is a first update, and the updating the at least one of the firewall rules provides a first firewall rule, the method further comprising, after establishing the network tunnel and in response to a second update to the policy;

receiving a second token from the client device; and

updating the first firewall rule in real-time while the network tunnel is active.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an access rule from the client device, and authenticating the first token, wherein at least one of the firewall rules is derived, while the network tunnel is active, from the access rule after authenticating the first token.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the computer system, a client access list comprising one or more access rules.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the client access list comprises a condition that must be fulfilled for the access rules, an action that will be taken when the condition is not fulfilled, and wherein each access rule defines a respective firewall rule.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein in response to determining that the condition is fulfilled, applying, by the gateway, the respective firewall rule.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first token is a signed token comprising at least one of an access rule or authentication information.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

authenticating, via communication with a controller, the first token, wherein the updating the at least one of the firewall rules is further in response to authenticating the first token.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a controller generates the update to the policy, the controller provides authentication information to the client device, and the first token received from the client device comprises the authentication information.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the client device provides the first token to the computer system in response to the update to the policy by the controller.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to triggering of a firewall rule by a request for access to the private network by the client device and before applying the firewall rule, checking, by the computer system, whether a corresponding condition is met; and

in response to a determination that the condition is not met, sending, by the computer system, to the client device, an action to be performed by the client device.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the establishing the network tunnel comprises receiving, by the computer system, a client access list from the client device and verifying whether the client access list was not altered by the client device;

the client access list is requested by the client device from an authentication server; and

the client access list is signed by the authentication server such that alteration of the client access list can be verified by the computer system.

13. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions programmed to instruct the at least one processor to:

in response to a request from a client device, establish a network tunnel between the client device and a gateway, the gateway implementing a firewall including firewall rules for selectively blocking and allowing network traffic between the client device and one or more network devices in a private network;

in response to an update to a policy after establishing the network tunnel, receive a first token; and

in response to receiving the first token, update at least one of the firewall rules in real-time while the network tunnel is active.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to receive a client access list, and the client access list is signed by an authentication server such that alteration of the client access list can be verified.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to authenticate the first token, and the updating the at least one of the firewall rules is further in response to authenticating the first token.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to receive a client access list comprising one or more access rules, wherein each access rule defines a respective firewall rule.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions configured to instruct a computing system to:

in response to a request from a client device, establish a network tunnel between the client device and a gateway, the gateway implementing a firewall including firewall rules for selectively blocking and allowing network traffic between the client device and one or more network devices in a private network;

in response to an update to a policy after establishing the network tunnel, receive a first token; and

in response to receiving the first token, update at least one of the firewall rules while the network tunnel is active.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further instruct the computing system to, in response to triggering of a firewall rule by a request for access to the private network by the client device and before applying the firewall rule, check whether a corresponding condition is met.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein in response to determining that the corresponding condition is met, apply the firewall rule.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the first token is a signed token comprising at least one of an access rule or authentication information, the instructions further instruct the computing system to authenticate the first token, and the updating the at least one of the firewall rules is further in response to authenticating the first token.