Systems and methods for managing devices

1. A computer-implemented method for managing devices, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

intercepting, at an ingress virtual computing machine of an overlay service network within a public cloud of a publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform, outbound network traffic that is directed to an original target network destination; and

redirecting the outbound network traffic to a second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform for the second virtual computing machine to apply a management policy to the outbound network traffic prior to the outbound network traffic arriving at the original target network destination;

wherein:

a management service directs the performance of:

configuring the ingress virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

configuring the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform to apply the management policy; and

configuring the second virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to an egress virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

application of the management policy is enabled through creation of the overlay service network within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform such that the outbound network traffic is prevented from escaping policy-based control; and

the overlay service network controls a traffic flow path within the public cloud for each of a set of virtual machines that is part of the overlay service network.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the management policy comprises a security policy.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a network gateway.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform provides to subscribers mass virtual computing resources for generic computing processing.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the management service is distinct and independent from the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the management policy is directed to at least one of:

quality of service management;

network traffic rate control;

application traffic prioritization;

network traffic pausing functionality; or

problem network traffic probing and detection.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving inbound network traffic from the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform that is responsive to the intercepted outbound network traffic; and

forwarding the inbound network traffic to a user device that generated the outbound network traffic such that the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform acts as an intermediary to apply the management policy.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a mobile device that operates on a cellular network.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the respective traffic flow path through the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform is fully controlled such that traffic flows symmetrically in both directions.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:

the management policy comprises a security policy;

the security policy is configured to detect at least one network security threat; and

the security policy is further configured to issue a real-time notification regarding the network security threat to a user account protected by the security policy through at least one of an intra-application notification, a text message notification, or a telephone notification.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a user account protected by the management policy may apply the management policy in real-time.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the security policy is directed to at least one of:

network traffic inspection and scanning;

media content filtering;

application identification and threat analysis;

data loss prevention;

command-and-control malware detection;

botnet participation detection; or

parental control.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the network gateway comprises a home wireless local area network router.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the network gateway substantially lacks security-specialized application processing, as distinct from generic network traffic routing processing, other than redirecting the outbound network traffic, such that the network gateway substantially offloads security-specialized application processing onto the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform without performing the security-specialized application processing locally at the network gateway.

15. A system for managing devices, the system comprising:

an interception module, stored in memory of a computing device, that intercepts, at an ingress virtual computing machine of an overlay service network within a public cloud of a publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform, outbound network traffic that is directed to an original target network destination; and

a redirection module, stored in memory of the computing device, that redirects the outbound network traffic to a second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform for the second virtual computing machine to apply a management policy to the outbound network traffic prior to the outbound network traffic arriving at the original target network destination;

wherein:

a management service directs the performance of:

configuring the ingress virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

configuring the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform to apply the management policy; and

configuring the second virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to an egress virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

application of the management policy is enabled through creation of the overlay service network within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform such that the outbound network traffic is prevented from escaping policy-based control;

the overlay service network controls a traffic flow path within the public cloud for each of a set of virtual machines that is part of the overlay service network; and

at least one physical processor configured to execute the interception module and the redirection module.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform provides to subscribers mass virtual computing resources for generic computing processing.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the management service is distinct and independent from the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the computing device comprises a network gateway.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the network gateway comprises a home wireless local area network router.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

intercept, at an ingress virtual computing machine of an overlay service network within a public cloud of a publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform, outbound network traffic that is directed to an original target network destination; and

redirect the outbound network traffic to a second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform for the second virtual computing machine to apply a management policy to the outbound network traffic prior to the outbound network traffic arriving at the original target network destination;

wherein:

a management service directs the performance of both:

configuring the ingress virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

configuring the second virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform to apply the management policy; and

configuring the second virtual computing machine to redirect the outbound network traffic to an egress virtual computing machine within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform;

application of the management policy is enabled through creation of the overlay service network within the publicly available on-demand cloud computing platform such that the outbound network traffic is prevented from escaping policy-based control; and

the overlay service network controls a traffic flow path within the public cloud for each of a set of virtual machines that is part of the overlay service network.