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

Claim 3:
4. A host computer having a reduced size open port fingerprint, comprising:
circuitry forming one or more processors and memory storing computer program instructions for execution on the one or more processors, the computer program instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause the host computer to:
close all ports on the 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, provide to the client, 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:
the host computer 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.