Patent ID: 11962569
Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 4:
5. An apparatus for hardening a communication device, having at least one hardware processor configured for:
identifying a use of at least one port via which a request is made to the communication device by a message; and
outputting a signal to disable the at least one port if, after a prescribable period, either use of the respective port is detected as low or no use of the respective port is detected and if at least one further port from a reference list of ports including the port and the at least one further port is open,
wherein the prescribable period is chosen differently based on a service addressable by the respective port and wherein the prescribable period is selected according to at least one of the following criteria:
a) the more difficult the service of the communication device addressable by the port is to manipulate, the longer the prescribable period is chosen to be;
b) the more rights are needed to perform the service addressable by the port, the shorter the prescribable period is chosen to be;
c) the higher an expectation value for the port being used in the request, the shorter the prescribable period is chosen to be;
d) if the communication device has an IP address from the global Internet, the prescribable period is chosen to be longer than if the communication device obtains its IP address from a local intranet.