Patent ID: 7594262
Filing Date: 2009-09-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for secure group communications, the system comprising: a communication network; a policy server coupled to the communication network, the policy server having a plurality of nodes operatively coupled to each other through the communication network, wherein the plurality of nodes includes a plurality of group nodes operatively coupled to the secure interface of the policy server through the communication network, wherein each of the plurality of group nodes includes a host computer connected to a network interface device over a bus interface, wherein: wherein each of the group nodes is assigned to one or more virtual private groups, wherein the first security policy includes group membership information for each of the plurality of group nodes, wherein the network interface devices receive a copy of the first security policy, a copy of the second security policy, and a set of encryption keys from the policy server and store the the security policies and the set of encryption keys into memory within each network interface device, wherein each network interface device is configured to use the first security policy, the group membership information and the encryption keys associated with the group membership information to receive information from the host computer and to securely communicate with a network interface device on another group node, and wherein the network interface device detects and blocks unauthorized packets sent to the group node using the packet filter as a function of the first security policy when the packets come from a group node and as a function of the second security policy when the packets come from a node that is not part of a virtual private group.