Patent Abstract:
Embodiments disclosed herein provide a system, method, and computer program product for establishing a secure network connection between two computers, a client and a server. The client may send a connection request over a public network to the server. In response, the server may generate a set of credentials, select a controller to automatically run on the client, and send the controller and the set of credentials to the client. The controller automatically executes on the client and utilizes the set of credentials from the server to establish a secure network connection with the server without user intervention. The set of credentials is valid until the secure network connection between the client and the server is severed.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/922,041, filed Aug. 19, 2004 by inventors Eric White and Patrick Turley, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A SECURE CONNECTION BETWEEN NETWORKED COMPUTERS,” issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,438, which in turn claims a benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/496,629, filed Aug. 20, 2003 by inventors Eric White and Patrick Turley, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A SECURE CONNECTION BETWEEN NETWORKED COMPUTERS,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to methods and systems for computer connectivity and, more particularly, to methods and systems for establishing and providing secure connections between computers. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    The use of computer networks to store data and provide information to users is increasingly common. In fact, in many cases it may be necessary for a computer to be connected to a specific network to retrieve data desired or needed by a user. To connect to a specific network, a user at a client computer may utilize a network connection, such as the Internet, to connect to a computer belonging to the network. 
         [0004]    The Internet is a loosely organized network of computers spanning the globe. Client computers, such as home computers, can connect to other clients and servers on the Internet through a local or regional Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) that further connects to larger regional ISPs or directly to one of the Internet&#39;s “backbones.” Regional and national backbones are interconnected through long range data transport connections such as satellite relays and undersea cables. Through these layers of interconnectivity, each computer connected to the Internet can connect to every other (or at least a large percentage) of other computers on the Internet. Utilizing the Internet, a user may connect to any of the networks within the Internet. 
         [0005]    The arrangement of the Internet, however, presents a whole host of security concerns. These concerns revolve mainly around the fact that communications between a client computer and a server computer residing in a remote network may travel through a wide variety of other computers and networks before arriving at their eventual destinations. If these communications are not secured, they are readily accessible to anyone with a basic understanding of network communication protocols. 
         [0006]    To alleviate these security concerns, a virtual private network or VPN may be established between a client computer and another network. A VPN may allow private and secure communications between computers over a public network, while maintaining privacy through the use of a tunneling protocol and security procedures. These tunneling protocols allow traffic to be encrypted at the edge of one network or at an originating computer, moved over a public network like any other data, and then decrypted when it reaches a remote network or receiving computer. This encrypted traffic acts like it is in a tunnel between the two networks or computers: even if an attacker can see the traffic, they cannot read it, and they cannot change the traffic without the changes being seen by the receiving party and therefore being rejected. 
         [0007]    VPNs are similar to wide area networks (WAN), but the key feature of VPNs is that they are able to use public networks like the Internet rather than rely on expensive, private leased lines. At they same time, VPNs have the same security and encryption features as a private network, while adding the advantage of the economies of scale and remote accessibility of large public networks. 
         [0008]    VPNs today are set up a variety of ways, and can be built over ATM, frame relay, and X.25 technologies. However, the most popular current method is to deploy IP-based VPNs, which offer more flexibility and ease of connectivity. Since most corporate intranets use IP or Web technologies, IP-VPNs can more transparently extend these capabilities over a wide network. An IP-VPN link can be set up anywhere in the world between two endpoints, and the IP network automatically handles the traffic routing. 
         [0009]    A VPN, however, is not without its flaws. First of all, to establish a VPN, both computers must utilize identical VPN protocols. As there are a wide variety of VPN protocols in use, such as PPTP, IPsec, L2TP etc. this is by no means guaranteed. If identical protocols are not originally on one or more of the computers, identical protocols must be installed on both of these systems before a VPN may be established. 
         [0010]    Additionally, even if the computers are running the same protocol, this protocol may still have to be manually setup and configured. In many cases, every time a remote user wishes to establish a VPN with a computer over an existing network he must bring up the VPN protocol he wishes to use and properly configure it to work with the remote computer or network he wishes to access. 
         [0011]    These installation and configuration issues may present problems to someone who is not well versed in the area of network protocols, and may even present problems for those who are familiar with these protocols, as typically a remote user must configure his computer without access to the gateway to which he wishes to connect. 
         [0012]    Even more problematic, however, is that setting up a VPN still presents security issues. Almost universally, a gateway at a remote network is not going to establish a VPN with a random remote computer. In most cases, the remote gateway requires a username and a password before it will establish a VPN connection. This username and password is sent from the remote user in an unsecured form, or encrypted using a weak encryption algorithm. As this username and password are easily snooped by malicious users of a public network, a security hole exists within the very process of trying to create a VPN to provide greater security. 
         [0013]    Thus, a need exists for more secure methods and systems for establishing a secure connection between computers which require minimum amounts of manual configuration. 
       SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0014]    Systems and methods for establishing or providing a secure connection between networked computers are disclosed. A computer may make a request for a secure connection to another computer. In response, configuration data may be sent to the requesting computer. This configuration data may execute on the requesting computer in order to create a secure connection between the two computers. Using this secure connection, data may be passed between the two computers with a greater degree of privacy. 
         [0015]    Furthermore, protocols inherent to particular operating systems may be utilized to setup and establish a secure connection between networked computers in an automated fashion, requiring no manual intervention or configuration by the user of a computer. The configuration data sent to the requesting computer may automatically configure a protocol on the requesting computer and automatically establish a secure connection with another networked computer. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment, a connection is requested in a first protocol, data is sent in response to the request, a second protocol is configured using the data and a secure connection is established using the second protocol. 
         [0017]    In another embodiment, the first protocol is HTTPS. 
         [0018]    In yet another embodiment, the data is sent using the first protocol. 
         [0019]    In other embodiments, the request for the connection includes a username and a password. 
         [0020]    In still other embodiments, data is sent only if the username and password are verified. 
         [0021]    In yet other embodiments, the data includes a controller. 
         [0022]    In some embodiments, the controller is an Active X controller. 
         [0023]    In a particular embodiment, the data includes a credential and the secured connection is established using the credential. 
         [0024]    In one embodiment, the credential is dynamically generated in response to the request and includes a password and a username. 
         [0025]    In additional embodiments, the credential is valid only for the duration of the secure connection. 
         [0026]    In other embodiments, the second protocol is PPTP and is configured automatically using the controller. 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, the secure connection is established automatically using the controller. 
         [0028]    These, and other, aspects of the invention will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. The following description, while indicating various embodiments of the invention and numerous specific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many substitutions, modifications, additions or rearrangements may be made within the scope of the invention, and the invention includes all such substitutions, modifications, additions or rearrangements. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0029]    The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification are included to depict certain aspects of the invention. A clearer impression of the invention, and of the components and operation of systems provided with the invention, will become more readily apparent by referring to the exemplary, and therefore nonlimiting, embodiments illustrated in the drawings, wherein identical reference numerals designate the same components. Note that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
           [0030]      FIG. 1  includes an illustration of exemplary architecture for use in describing various embodiments of the systems and methods of the present invention. 
           [0031]      FIG. 2  includes a flow diagram of one embodiment of a method for establishing a secure connection between two computers. 
           [0032]      FIG. 3  includes a representation of applying an embodiment of a method for establishing a secure connection to portions of the architecture depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0033]      FIG. 4  includes a representation of one embodiment of VPN client software. 
           [0034]      FIG. 5  includes an illustration of another exemplary architecture where embodiments of the systems and methods of the present invention may find applicability. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0035]    The invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the nonlimiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well known starting materials, processing techniques, components and equipment are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the invention in detail. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only and not by way of limitation. After reading the specification, various substitutions, modifications, additions and rearrangements will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure which do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. 
         [0036]    Initially, a few terms are defined to aid the reader in an understanding of the following disclosure. The term “controller” is intended to mean any set of data or instructions operable to perform certain tasks or a combination of hardware (such as a processor) and software instructions capable of performing a certain task. 
         [0037]    The term “networked” is intended to mean operable to communicate. For example, two networked computers are operable to communicate with one another using techniques known in the art, such as via a wireless or wired connection using TCP/IP. Two computers may be networked through a variety of networks, sub-networks, etc. 
         [0038]    Before discussing embodiments of the present invention, an exemplary architecture for use in illustrating embodiments of the present invention is described. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that this is a simple architecture intended for illustrative embodiments only, and that the systems and methods described herein may be employed with any variety of more complicated architectures. Each of the computers depicted may include desktops, laptops, PDAs or any other type of device capable of communicating, either via wireless or wired connection, over a network. Each network depicted, whether they be intranets or any other type of network, may include sub-networks or any combination of networks and sub-networks 
         [0039]      FIG. 1  illustrates just such an exemplary architecture. In  FIG. 1 , intranet  100  is a private network composed of client computers  110  and server  120 . Client computers  110  may be coupled to server  120 , which is in turn coupled to public network  130 , such as the Internet. Client computers  110  may not be coupled directly to public network  130 . Therefore, to access public network  130 , client computers  110  may communicate with server  120 , which in turn serves as a gateway to public network  130  as is commonly known in the art. Data residing within intranet  100  may be sensitive. Consequently, server  120  may also serve as a firewall for intranet  100 , preventing unauthorized users on public network  130  from accessing intranet  100 . Remote client computer  140  may also be coupled to public network  130  via a wired or wireless connection, as is known in the art. Therefore, remote client computer  140  and server  120  may be capable of communication via public network  130 . For example, server  120  may serve both as a firewall to protect intranet data and a gateway to permit secured access to the intranet and all computers and servers hosted therein by remote client computer  140 . 
         [0040]    Attention is now directed to systems and methods for establishing a secure connection between two computers over a network according to one embodiment of the invention. Typically, a user at a remote client computer wishes to establish a connection with an intranet or a computer within an intranet. To accomplish this, the remote client computer and a server computer belonging to the intranet may create a VPN so information may be securely transferred between the remote client computer and the server computer or other computers within the intranet. To securely establish this VPN with a minimum of configuration, the remote client computer may make a request for a VPN connection to the server. In response, the server may send configuration data to the remote client computer. This configuration data may execute on the remote client computer in order to create a secure VPN connection between the remote client and the server. Using this secure connection, data may be passed between server and remote client with a greater degree of privacy. 
         [0041]    These systems and methods may be explained in more detail with reference to the exemplary hardware architecture of  FIG. 1 . Suppose a user at remote client computer  140  wishes to securely interact with intranet  100 . To accomplish this, remote client computer  140  can request a secure connection from server  120  over network  130 . In response, server  120  may send configuration data to remote client computer  140 . Using this configuration data, a secure connection may be established between remote client computer  140  and server computer  120 , after which remote computer  140  may interact with computers  110 ,  120  of intranet  100  as if remote computer  140  belonged to intranet  100 . 
         [0042]    In one particular embodiment, to obtain connectivity between remote client computer  140  and server  120  a transient VPN may be established between server  120  and remote client computer  140  using public network  130 . This transient VPN may provide a dynamic, secure connection between remote client computer  140  and server  120  by creating a transient VPN endpoint on remote client computer  140  that connects through a VPN tunnel to server  120 . This VPN connection may be established using a wide variety of VPN protocols, as are known in the art, such as PPTP, IPsec, L2TP etc. 
         [0043]    Furthermore, protocols inherent to particular operating systems may be utilized to setup and establish a transient VPN endpoint on remote client computer  140  in an automated fashion, requiring no manual intervention or configuration by the user of remote client computer  140 . For example, suppose remote computer  140  and server are both executing a Windows based operating of the type developed by Microsoft, such as Windows98, WindowsXP, Windows2000, etc. As Windows based operating system have the PPTP VPN protocol built into them, this protocol may be used advantageously to automatically establish a VPN between remote client computer  140  and server  120  if both are executing a Windows based operating system. 
         [0044]    Turning now to  FIG. 2 , a flow diagram for one method of establishing a secure connection between networked computers is depicted. To establish a secure connection between two networked computer, the first step may be to ensure that the protocol to be utilized in establishing this secure connection is installed on both computers, and if it is not, to install the desired protocol on the computer(s) that do not have it (Step  210 ). For example, if a VPN connection is desired between remote client computer  140  and server computer  120  a wide variety of VPN protocols may be used to establish this connection, such as IPsec, L2TP, PPTP, MPLS etc. If, however, it is desired to use IPsec and remote client computer  140  does not have the IPsec protocol installed or configured, it may be necessary to install the IPsec protocol (Step  210 ) on remote client computer  140  before this particular protocol may be utilized in establishing a VPN connection. This installation may only need to occur once, and may, for example, be accomplished by an IT manager responsible for intranet  110  or remote client computer  140 . 
         [0045]    At any time after the desired protocol is installed on the computers (Step  210 ), a secure connection may be requested by one of the computers (Step  220 ). For example, remote client computer  140  may request a secure connection from server computer  120 . This request (Step  220 ) may be in any format used to communicate over the network connection between the two computers, such as FTP, HTTP or HTTPS. In response to this request (Step  220 ), a response may be sent to the requesting computer (Step  230 ). This response (Step  230 ) may be sent to the requesting computer using the same format used in the initial request (Step  220 ), such as FTP, HTTP or HTTPS, and include a set of data designed to establish a secure connection between the two computers using a particular protocol. This set of data may comprise a controller configured to execute on the requesting computer and a set of credentials to be used in conjunction with the controller. 
         [0046]    The set of data sent in this response (Step  230 ) may provide information to be utilized by a protocol on the requesting computer when connecting to a particular networked computer using the protocol (Step  240 ). This information may include the IP address or host name of a server, the authentication domain name, whether MPPC is to be utilized, which call-control and management protocol is to be used, a DNS configuration etc. Providing this information to the protocol may be referred to as “configuring a protocol” and that phrase will be used as such herein. In some instances, a controller contained in the response to the requesting computer executes on the initiating computer and configures the protocol to establish a secure connection using the credentials contained in the response (Step  230 ). 
         [0047]    After this configuration process (Step  240 ), a secure connection may be initiated using the configured protocol (Step  250 ), and a secure connection established (Step  260 ). In some instances, a request for a secure connection may be initiated by the same controller responsible for configuring the protocol, and include the credentials contained in the sent response (Step  230 ). After verifying the credentials a secure connection may be established (Step  260 ). 
         [0048]    It will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the method depicted in the flow diagram of  FIG. 2  may be tailored to implement a secure connection between two computers in a variety of architectures, and may employ a variety of different protocols for the various communications and secure connections. 
         [0049]    Note that  FIG. 2  represents one embodiment of the invention and that not all of the steps depicted in  FIG. 2  are necessary, that a step may not be required, and that further steps may be utilized in addition to the ones depicted, including steps for communication, authentication, configuration etc. Additionally, the order in which each step is described is not necessarily the order in which it is utilized. After reading this specification, a person of ordinary skill in the art will be capable of determining which arrangement of steps will be best suited to a particular implementation. 
         [0050]    In fact, embodiments of the methods and systems of the present invention may be particularly useful in establishing a secure connection between two computers by automatically configuring a protocol built into an operating systems executing on both of the computers, alleviating the need for a user to install or configure such a protocol manually. 
         [0051]      FIG. 3  depicts one embodiment of a method for automatically establishing a transient VPN connection between a remote client computer and a server both executing a Windows based operating system containing the point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP) for establishing VPNs. Remote client computer  140  may send a connection request (Step  220 ) to server computer  120  indicating that remote client computer  140  wishes to establish a VPN connection with server  120 . This request may be initiated by a user at remote computer  140 . Though this request may be initiated in a variety of ways, in many instances a user at remote client computer  140  may initiate this request using an HTTP client. For example, via an internet browser of the type commonly know in the art, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. 
         [0052]    Using this browser, a client at remote client computer  140  may navigate to a particular URL in a known manner, perhaps by typing it directly into an address window within the browser, accessing the URL in his bookmarks file, or navigating to the URL by clicking on an HTTP link within a page. By pointing his browser to a particular URL, the user at remote client computer  140  initiates a connection request to server  120  computer. This URL may also contain an HTML form requesting a username and password from a user at remote computer  140 , in order to authenticate a user at remote computer  140 . 
         [0053]    In some embodiments, this connection request (Step  220 ) is sent from HTTP client on remote client computer  140  to server  120  using HTTP. However, to better secure the connection request, in other embodiments the connection request from remote client computer  140  to server computer is made using HTTPS, which may be sent via an SSL connection between remote client computer  140  and server computer  120 . 
         [0054]    In response to the connection request (Step  220 ) from remote client computer  140 , server computer  120  may send data to remote client computer  140  which will facilitate the establishment of a VPN connection between server and remote client computer (Step  230 ). If the connection request (Step  220 ) from remote client computer  140  contained a username or password, server computer  120  may first authenticate or authorize the requesting user at remote client computer  140 . Logic on server computer  120  may verify the username or password submitted in the connection request (Step  220 ) possibly by authenticating them against a form of user database (RADIUS, LDAP, etc.). If the user&#39;s authentication profile permits, server  120  may then send a response to remote client computer  140  with the configuration data (Step  230 ). This data may include VPN client software designed to utilize a VPN protocol on remote client computer  140  to automatically establish a secure VPN connection between server computer  120  and remote client computer  140  without any action by the user of remote client computer  140 . 
         [0055]    In one specific embodiment, the VPN client software is sent to remote client computer  140  using HTTPS, and includes a controller designed to establish a secure VPN connection between server  120  and remote client computer  140 , and a set of credentials. These credentials may be session specific, and dynamically generated by server computer  120  using a random-seed. Additionally, this VPN client software may be digitally signed with an X.509 digital certificate, of the type know in the art, so that remote client computer  140  recognizes that the origin of the VPN client software is server computer  120 . Once the origin of VPN client software is verified, it may then be installed or executed on remote client computer  140  to establish a secure VPN connection. 
         [0056]      FIG. 4  depicts a block diagram of one embodiment of the client software which may be sent from server computer  120  to remote client computer  140  (Step  230 ). VPN client software  400  may include controller  410  designed to configure a protocol on remote client computer  140  and establish the VPN connection between server  120  and remote client computer  140 . In many cases, this controller  410  is designed to utilize a VPN protocol resident on remote client computer  140  to establish this connection. This controller may be written in a variety of programming or scripting languages as are known in the art, such as C, C++, Java, etc. 
         [0057]    Once VPN client software  400  is downloaded and controller  410  executed, controller  410  may establish a secure VPN connection between remote client computer  140  and server  120 . To continue with the above example, remote client computer  140  may be executing a Windows based operating system, and controller  410  may be an Active X controller designed specifically to configure the PPTP bundled in the Windows operating system software. Therefore, once VPN client software  400  is downloaded to remote client computer  140 , Active X controller  410  may execute automatically on remote client computer  140 , making system library calls to configure the PPTP resident on remote client computer  140  as a PPTP client. 
         [0058]    Using the configured PPTP client, Active X controller  410  may then automatically establish a secure VPN connection with server computer  120 . This secure connection may be automatically established by controller  410  by making additionally system library calls on remote client computer  140  to initiate a tunnel request (Step  240 ) from remote client computer  140  to server computer  120 . As noted above, PPTP libraries are installed with most Windows based operating systems. Thus, Active X controller executing on remote client computer  140  may configure the PPTP to establish a secure VPN connection with remote server and initiate a tunnel request, without any interference or input by a user of remote client computer  140 . 
         [0059]    Additionally, in some embodiments, controller  410  may utilize credentials  420  in establishing the secure VPN connection between server computer  120  and remote client computer  140 . As mentioned above, credentials  420  may have been dynamically generated by server computer  120  and sent in the response (Step  230 ) to initial connection request (Step  220 ). Credentials  420  may contain a password and username. Controller  410  may use this username and password as parameters when establishing the VPN connection between remote client computer and server computer. Credentials may be sent with tunnel request (Step  250 ) and verified by server computer  120  before establishing a VPN connection with remote computer  140 . Since server computer  120  initially created credentials  420 , server may identify the credentials from remote client computer  140  and associate a particular VPN connection with a particular remote client computer. 
         [0060]    Credentials  420 , including the username and password may then be used for the duration of that particular session between remote client computer  140  and server computer  140 . Once the VPN connection between remote client computer and server computer is severed, username and password may lose their validity, preventing their unauthorized use in the future. 
         [0061]    Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed will be useful in a variety of architectures, as will be apparent to those of skill in the art after reading this disclosure.  FIG. 5  depicts an example of another architecture where these systems and methods might find useful application. Wireless router  510  and server  512  may serve as wireless access point  514  to Internet  520 , as is known in the art. Remote client computer  140  may be wirelessly coupled to server  512  and Internet  520  through router  510  in a public venue. In this architecture, embodiments of these systems and methods may be utilized to secure wireless communications, in a public venue, between remote client computer  140  and access point  514 , securing the public wireless network segment, without the need for pre-shared keys or passphrases. 
         [0062]    For example, after remote client computer  140  enters the range of wireless router  510 , remote client computer  140  may associate with access point  514 . Remote client computer  140  may then request a secure connection with server  512  via a browser based interface. Client software  400 , including controller  410  and credentials  420  may be downloaded to remote client computer  140  using HTTPS, at which point the controller automatically configures the PPTP on remote client computer  140  and establish a VPN tunnel between remote client computer  140  and wireless access point  514 . From this point, wireless communications between remote client computer and access point  514  may be made using this VPN tunnel, and are therefore, more secure. 
         [0063]    Although the present disclosure has been described in detail herein with reference to the illustrative embodiments, it should be understood that the description is by way of example only and is not to be construed in a limiting sense. It is to be further understood, therefore, that numerous changes in the details of the embodiments disclosed herein and additional embodiments will be apparent to, and may be made by, persons of ordinary skill in the art having reference to this description. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure should be determined by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6