Patent ID: 11870809
Assignee: AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method of reducing a size of host computer's open port fingerprint, comprising:
closing all ports on a host computer except for one or more open ports, each of the one or more open ports associated with a respective application layer service; and,
responsive to a request from a client on a particular open port of the one or more open ports, the host computer providing, via the particular open port of the one or more open ports, either (i) a first application layer service that the client associates with a port on the host computer other than the particular open port, upon successful authentication and authorization of the client, or (ii) a second application layer service that the client associates with the particular open port, when any of said authentication and authorization of the client fails;
wherein said authentication comprises:
the host computer requesting a certificate from the client at the beginning of a transport layer connection between the client and the host computer, the transport layer connection being directed to the particular open port of the one or more open ports; and,
receiving the certificate and validating the certificate to authenticate the client;

wherein said authorization comprises:
authorizing the client for the first application layer service, based at least in part on an identifier for the client as indicated in the certificate.