Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170142068A1/en
Timestamp: 2019-11-21 07:02:56
Document Index: 83440548

Matched Legal Cases: ['§7', '§7', '§7', '§7', '§8', '§9']

US20170142068A1 - Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods - Google Patents
Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods Download PDF
US20170142068A1
US20170142068A1 US14/943,579 US201514943579A US2017142068A1 US 20170142068 A1 US20170142068 A1 US 20170142068A1 US 201514943579 A US201514943579 A US 201514943579A US 2017142068 A1 US2017142068 A1 US 2017142068A1
US14/943,579
2015-11-17 Application filed by Zscaler Inc filed Critical Zscaler Inc
2015-11-17 Priority to US14/943,579 priority Critical patent/US20170142068A1/en
2015-11-17 Assigned to ZSCALER, INC. reassignment ZSCALER, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: VERMA, RAVINDER, DEVARAJAN, SRIKANTH, KAWAMOTO, JAMES, STEPANENKO, VLADIMIR
2017-05-18 Publication of US20170142068A1 publication Critical patent/US20170142068A1/en
238000007689 inspection Methods 0 claims description 23
235000010384 tocopherol Nutrition 0 description 15
235000019731 tricalcium phosphate Nutrition 0 description 15
102100004218 AANAT Human genes 0 description 4
101700033107 SNAT family Proteins 0 description 4
101700003271 SNAT1 family Proteins 0 description 4
A multi-tenant cloud-based firewall method from a client, performed by a cloud node, includes receiving a packet from the client, wherein the client is located externally from the cloud node; checking if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, processing the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session; if no firewall session exists, creating the firewall session; and processing the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules. The cloud node can perform the method without a corresponding appliance or hardware on premises, at a location associated with the client, for providing a firewall.
The present disclosure generally relates to computer networking systems and methods. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods.
In networks, firewalls monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and another outside network, such as the Internet, that is assumed not to be secure or trusted. Firewalls are often categorized as either network firewalls or host-based firewalls. Network firewalls are a software appliance running on general purpose hardware or hardware-based firewall computer appliances that filter traffic between two or more networks. Host-based firewalls provide a layer of software on one host that controls network traffic in and out of that single machine. Firewall appliances may also offer other functionality to the internal network they protect such as acting as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Virtual Private Network (VPN) server for that network. Disadvantageously, conventional firewalls, either network firewalls or host-based firewalls are physical devices located at the boundary between the internal network and the outside network (the Internet). That is, network firewalls are appliance-based at the network boundary, and host-based firewalls are on a single device. This scheme does not reflect the evolving network of cloud-based connectivity, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), etc. For example, a road warrior, home user, or employee with their mobile device does not have the benefit of a network firewall outside of the internal network. Also, mobile devices and their associated operating systems may not allow host-based firewalls.
Thus, there is a need for next-generation firewall systems and methods that can adapt to the evolving network.
In an exemplary embodiment, a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall method from a client, performed by a cloud node, includes receiving a packet from the client, wherein the client is located externally from the cloud node; checking if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, processing the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session; if no firewall session exists, creating the firewall session; and processing the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules. The cloud node can perform the method without a corresponding appliance or hardware on premises, at a location associated with the client, for providing a firewall. The client can be from one of a plurality of customers, each customer having its own rules for any of users, locations, departments, and groups. The cloud node can be part of a distributed security system and the method can further include processing the packet for a plurality of malware, spyware, viruses, email spam, Data Leakage Prevention, and content filtering. The client can be connected to the cloud node via one of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and an Internet Protocol (IP) security (IPsec) tunnel, regardless of location and device type of the client. The method can further include determining an application associated with the packet and subsequent packets in the firewall session utilizing Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). The DPI can include one or more of explicit classification, use of protocol data signatures, classification based on port, classification based on Internet Protocol (IP), pattern matching, and session correlation. The one or more rules operate over all ports and protocols. The one or more rules can include user-based rules based on identifying the client based on surrogation.
In another exemplary embodiment, a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall method from a server, performed by a cloud node, includes receiving a packet from the server, wherein the server is located externally from the cloud node; checking if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, processing the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session; if no firewall session exists, creating the firewall session; and processing the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules. The cloud node performs the method without a corresponding appliance or hardware on premises, at a location associated with the server, for providing a firewall. The server communicates with a client from one of a plurality of customers, each customer having its own rules for any of users, locations, departments, and groups. The cloud node is part of a distributed security system, and the method further includes processing the packet for a plurality of malware, spyware, viruses, email spam, Data Leakage Prevention, and content filtering. The client can be connected to the cloud node via one of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and an Internet Protocol (IP) security (IPsec) tunnel, regardless of location and device type of the client. The method can further include determining an application associated with the packet and subsequent packets in the firewall session utilizing Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). The DPI can include one or more of explicit classification, use of protocol data signatures, classification based on port, classification based on Internet Protocol (IP), pattern matching, and session correlation. The one or more rules operate over all ports and protocols. The one or more rules can include user-based rules based on identifying the client based on surrogation.
In a further exemplary embodiment, a node in a cloud-based security system configured to provide a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall includes a network interface, a data store, and a processor communicatively coupled to one another; and memory storing computer executable instructions, and in response to execution by the processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to perform steps of receive a packet from the a device, wherein the device is located externally from the cloud node; check if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, process the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session; if no firewall session exists, create the firewall session; and process the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules.
FIG. 1 is a network diagram of a distributed security system;
FIG. 7 is a network diagram of a network with a firewall in accordance with the multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods;
FIG. 8 is a network diagram of a network illustrating exemplary use cases of the firewall;
FIG. 9 is a screen shot associated with the firewall illustrating exemplary network services;
FIG. 10 is a screen shot associated with the firewall illustrates exemplary applications;
FIG. 11 is a diagram of a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) engine for the firewall;
FIG. 12A is a screen shot of defining a firewall filtering rule;
FIG. 12B is another screen shot of defining a firewall filtering rule;
FIG. 13 is screen shots of editing IP groups;
FIG. 14 is screen shots of editing a network service;
FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrates packet flow through the cloud node;
FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a process for packet flow through the firewall from a client;
FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a process for packet flow through the firewall from a server;
FIG. 18 is a screen shot of creating firewall policies;
FIG. 19 is a screen shot of a NAT configuration;
FIG. 20 is a screen shot of a user authentication screen;
FIG. 21 is a screen shot of DNS policy;
FIG. 22 is a screen shot of a reporting screen for firewall insights;
FIG. 23 is a screen shot of an interactive report for firewall insights;
FIG. 24 is a screen shot of a graph of usage trends through the firewall; and
FIG. 25 is graphs of top firewall protocols in sessions and bytes.
In various exemplary embodiments, multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods are described. The firewall systems and methods can operate overlaid with existing branch office firewalls or routers as well as eliminate the need for physical firewalls. The firewall systems and methods can protect users at user level control, regardless of location, device, etc., over all ports and protocols (not only ports 80/443) while providing administrators a single unified policy for Internet access and integrated reporting and visibility. In an exemplary embodiment, the firewall systems and methods can eliminate dedicated hardware at user locations (e.g., branch or regional offices, etc.), providing a software-based cloud solution, such as a Virtualized Network Function (VNF) in the cloud. The firewall systems and methods support application awareness to identify application regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic, or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL); user awareness to identify users, groups, and locations regardless of physical Internet Protocol (IP) address; visibility and policy management providing globally unified administration, policy management, and reporting; threat protection and compliance to block threats and data leaks in real-time; high performance through an in-line cloud-based, scalable system; and cost effectiveness with rapid deployment. In an exemplary embodiment, the firewall systems and methods are described implemented through or in conjunction with a distributed, cloud-based security system and the firewall systems and methods can be integrated with sandboxing, web security, Data Leakage Prevention (DLP), content filtering, SSL inspection, malware protection and cloud-scale correlation, anti-virus, bandwidth management reporting and analytics, and the like.
Referring to FIG. 1, in an exemplary embodiment, a block diagram illustrates a distributed security system 100. The system 100 may, for example, be implemented as an overlay network in a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN), or the like. The system 100 includes processing nodes (PN) 110, that proactively detect and preclude the distribution of security threats, e.g., malware, spyware, viruses, email spam, DLP, content filtering, etc., and other undesirable content sent from or requested by an external system. The processing nodes 110 can also log activity and enforce policies, including logging changes to the various components and settings in the system 100. Example external systems may include an enterprise 200, a computer device 220, and a mobile device 230, or other network and computing systems communicatively coupled to the system 100. In an exemplary embodiment, each of the processing nodes 110 may include a decision system, e.g., data inspection engines that operate on a content item, e.g., a web page, a file, an email message, or some other data or data communication that is sent from or requested by one of the external systems. In an exemplary embodiment, all data destined for or received from the Internet is processed through one of the processing nodes 110. In another exemplary embodiment, specific data specified by each external system, e.g., only email, only executable files, etc., is process through one of the processing node 110.
In an exemplary embodiment, the processing nodes 110 may communicate with one or more authority nodes (AN) 120. The authority nodes 120 may store policy data for each external system and may distribute the policy data to each of the processing nodes 110. The policy may, for example, define security policies for a protected system, e.g., security policies for the enterprise 200. Example policy data may define access privileges for users, websites and/or content that is disallowed, restricted domains, etc. The authority nodes 120 may distribute the policy data to the access nodes 110. In an exemplary embodiment, the authority nodes 120 may also distribute threat data that includes the classifications of content items according to threat classifications, e.g., a list of known viruses, a list of known malware sites, spam email domains, a list of known phishing sites, etc. The distribution of threat data between the processing nodes 110 and the authority nodes 120 may be implemented by push and pull distribution schemes described in more detail below. In an exemplary embodiment, each of the authority nodes 120 may be implemented by one or more computer and communication devices, e.g., server computers, gateways, switches, etc., such as the server 300 described in FIG. 3. In some exemplary embodiments, the authority nodes 120 may serve as an application layer 170. The application layer 170 may, for example, manage and provide policy data, threat data, and data inspection engines and dictionaries for the processing nodes 110.
The network interface 306 may be used to enable the server 300 to communicate over a network, such as the Internet, the WAN 101, the enterprise 200, and the like, etc. The network interface 306 may include, for example, an Ethernet card or adapter (e.g., 10BaseT, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GbE) or a wireless local area network (WLAN) card or adapter (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n). The network interface 306 may include address, control, and/or data connections to enable appropriate communications on the network. A data store 308 may be used to store data. The data store 308 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, and the like)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, tape, CDROM, and the like), and combinations thereof. Moreover, the data store 308 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. In one example, the data store 1208 may be located internal to the server 300 such as, for example, an internal hard drive connected to the local interface 312 in the server 300. Additionally in another embodiment, the data store 308 may be located external to the server 300 such as, for example, an external hard drive connected to the I/O interfaces 304 (e.g., SCSI or USB connection). In a further embodiment, the data store 308 may be connected to the server 300 through a network, such as, for example, a network attached file server.
The processor 402 is a hardware device for executing software instructions. The processor 402 can be any custom made or commercially available processor, a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliary processor among several processors associated with the mobile device 410, a semiconductor-based microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chip set), or generally any device for executing software instructions. When the mobile device 410 is in operation, the processor 402 is configured to execute software stored within the memory 410, to communicate data to and from the memory 410, and to generally control operations of the mobile device 410 pursuant to the software instructions. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor 402 may include a optimized mobile processor such as optimized for power consumption and mobile applications. The I/O interfaces 404 can be used to receive user input from and/or for providing system output. User input can be provided via, for example, a keypad, a touch screen, a scroll ball, a scroll bar, buttons, barcode scanner, and the like. System output can be provided via a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), touch screen, and the like. The I/O interfaces 404 can also include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a small computer system interface (SCSI), an infrared (IR) interface, a radio frequency (RF) interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and the like. The I/O interfaces 404 can include a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a user to interact with the mobile device 410. Additionally, the I/O interfaces 404 may further include an imaging device, i.e. camera, video camera, etc.
The memory 410 may include any of volatile memory elements (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc.)), nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, hard drive, etc.), and combinations thereof. Moreover, the memory 410 may incorporate electronic, magnetic, optical, and/or other types of storage media. Note that the memory 410 may have a distributed architecture, where various components are situated remotely from one another, but can be accessed by the processor 402. The software in memory 410 can include one or more software programs, each of which includes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions. In the example of FIG. 4, the software in the memory 410 includes a suitable operating system (O/S) 414 and programs 416. The operating system 414 essentially controls the execution of other computer programs and provides scheduling, input-output control, file and data management, memory management, and communication control and related services. The programs 416 may include various applications, add-ons, etc. configured to provide end user functionality with the mobile device 400. For example, exemplary programs 416 may include, but not limited to, a web browser, social networking applications, streaming media applications, games, mapping and location applications, electronic mail applications, financial applications, and the like. In a typical example, the end user typically uses one or more of the programs 416 along with a network such as the system 100.
Referring to FIG. 5, in an exemplary embodiment, a cloud system 500 is illustrated for implementing the systems and methods described herein for tracking and auditing changes in a multi-tenant cloud system. The cloud system 500 includes one or more cloud nodes (CN) 502 communicatively coupled to the Internet 504. The cloud nodes 502 may include the processing nodes 110, the server 300, or the like. That is, the cloud system 500 may include the distributed security system 100 or another implementation of a cloud-based system, such as a system providing different functionality from security. In the cloud system 500, traffic from various locations (and various devices located therein) such as a regional office 510, headquarters 520, various employee's homes 530, mobile laptop 540, and mobile device 542 communicates to the cloud through the cloud nodes 502. That is; each of the locations 510, 520, 530, 540, 542 is communicatively coupled to the Internet 504 through the cloud nodes 502. For security, the cloud system 500 may be configured to perform various functions such as spam filtering, uniform resource locator (URL) filtering, antivirus protection, bandwidth control, data loss prevention, zero-day vulnerability protection, web 2.0 features, and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the cloud system 500 and the distributed security system 100 may be viewed as Security-as-a-Service through the cloud. In general, the cloud system 500 can be configured to perform any function in a multi-tenant environment. For example, the cloud system 500 can provide content, a collaboration between users, storage, application hosting, and the like.
The network 550 illustrates the DNS augmented security where DNS information is used as follows. First, at step 562, the user device 554 requests a DNS lookup of a site, e.g. “what is the IP address of site.com?” from the anycast DNS server 556. The anycast DNS server 556 accesses the policy data 558 to determine the policy associated with the site at step 564. The anycast DNS server 556 returns the IP address of the site based on the appropriate policy at step 566. The policy data 558 determines if the site either goes direct (step 568) to the Internet, is inspected by the inline proxy (step 570), or is blocked per policy (step 572). Here, the anycast DNS server 556 returns the IP address with additional information if the site is inspected or blocked. For example, if the anycast DNS server 556 determines the access is direct, the anycast DNS server 556 simply returns the IP address of the site. If the anycast DNS server 556 determines the site is blocked or inspected, the anycast DNS server 556 returns the IP address to the inline proxy 560 with additional information. The inline proxy 560 can block the site or provide fully inline proxied traffic to the site (step 574) after performing monitoring for security.
§7.0 Multi-Tenant, Cloud-Based Firewall
Referring to FIG. 7, in an exemplary embodiment, a network diagram illustrates a network 600 with a firewall 602 in accordance with the multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods. The firewall 602 is functionally deployed through the cloud system 500 where traffic from various locations (and various devices located therein) such as a regional office/Branch office 510, headquarters 520, various employee's homes 530, mobile laptop 540, and mobile device 542 communicates to the Internet 504 through the cloud nodes 502. The firewall 602 can be implemented through the cloud node 502 to allow or block data between the users and the Internet 504. The firewall 602 could also be implemented through the processing node 110. Note, in the various descriptions that follow, reference is made to the cloud node 502, but those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the processing node 110 can be used as well or any other type of server or node. Further, the firewall 602 can be communicatively coupled to a log 604 for logging associated data therein. In an exemplary embodiment, the cloud nodes 502 can be used only to provide the firewall 602. In another exemplary embodiment, the cloud nodes 502 can provide the firewall 602 as well as in-line inspection. The firewall 602 can handle various types of data, such as, for example, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Secure Shell (SSH), and the like.
Users connect to the cloud system 500 via Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) or GRE, all traffic including non-HTTP traffic may be sent through the cloud nodes 502. The firewall systems and methods propose to add support for non-HTTP applications to the cloud nodes 502. Thus, the cloud system 500 is able to support non-Web traffic and act as a Firewall for the Branch office, where clients typically sit behind a hardware-based firewall to connect to servers outside the hardware-based firewall. The firewall 602 provides advanced security functionality in the cloud can be used to offload Branch office Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).
Advantageously, in the cloud system 500, processor and resource intensive features are scalable, efficiently used for multiple customers, and inexpensive, relative to on-premises hardware-based solutions. The firewall 602 can be used to replace traditional expensive appliance box solutions that reside at the customer premise with service from the cloud system 500. This enables end customers to realize cost savings, provide efficient growth, and unified management/reporting. For example, the cloud system 500 scales while appliance box solutions do not. On-premises hardware-based solutions are often integrated with feature-rich routers or operate as a stand-alone device. In both scenarios, the firewall 602 can provide cost savings, either removing the need for the stand-alone device or allowing the use of lower cost routers and/or lower cost firewalls. The firewall 602, through the cloud system 500, can offer granular Layer 3 (L3) through Layer 7 (L7) control of applications, in a multi-tenant cloud infrastructure. This also includes integrated logging functionality, giving customers visibility into applications down to the L3 applications running on their networks.
§7.1 Multi-Tenant, Cloud-Based Firewall—Use Cases
Referring to FIG. 8, in an exemplary embodiment, a network diagram illustrates a network 600A illustrating exemplary use cases of the firewall 602. Here, the firewall 602 can support multiple customers, such as regional office/Branch offices 510A, 510B. That is, the cloud system 500 can support the firewall 602 for more than one customer at a time. Additionally, the firewall 602 can support a road warrior, i.e., the user device 554, outside the office.
In an exemplary embodiment, the firewall 602 can be an outbound firewall for a Branch office, such as for large distributed enterprises, medium size business, small business, and the like, with users sitting behind the firewall 602 and connecting to the cloud nodes 502 which allow outbound connections of various protocols. Traffic can come to the firewall 602 via IPSEC or GRE tunnels. Traffic can also come to the firewall 602 in a Layer 2 (L2) Transparent Mode where Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tags are used, such as a specific tag mapped to a particular customer. In another exemplary embodiment, the firewall 602 can be an outbound firewall for Branch offices for Managed Service Provided, replacing existing managed firewall servers where large amounts of appliances are installed in data centers.
The firewall 602 also can provide basic stateful firewall functionality for common Layer 3 (L3) applications, allowing for the configuration of any one of these applications to traverse through the firewall 602. The user will now be capable of managing and controlling which protocols and applications are allowed through the firewall 602 and which ones are dropped.
For example, Telnet traffic can be configured to be allowed and all other non-HTTP/HTTPS traffic to be dropped. Inbound functionality or any connections initiated by users coming from the Internet 504 can also be supported. The firewall 602 also includes an ability to support configuration policy rules and the ability to log all traffic and generate reports for the customer.
In an exemplary embodiment, the regional office/Branch offices 510A, 510B can each connect to the cloud system via an IPSec tunnel, configured for all traffic, including non-HTTP/HTTPS. This traffic can be Network Address Translation (NAT) out to the Internet 504 and return traffic is passed back through the appropriate tunnel. Because the cloud system 500 knows which customer and which location traffic originated, the return traffic can be mapped properly and sent back through the appropriate VPN tunnel, even though customers may have overlapping private address spaces.
§7.2 Multi-Tenant, Cloud-Based Firewall—Functionality
A firewall service is defined to be a traditional Layer 4 (L4) service that can be defined by ports and Ethernet protocol (Telnet, SSH, POP, IMAP, etc.). Firewall applications are defined as Layer 7 (L7) applications (e.g., Lync, Skype, YouTube, etc.). The firewall 602 enables custom firewall services to allow users to define their own pin holes through the FW firewall 602 if a pre-defined firewall application does not exist. This will be known as a custom defined application which requires support for the custom application name and the configuration of ports or port ranges. This custom defined application can override any pre-defined applications, and the custom defined application cannot be defined with conflicting port ranges.
The firewall 602 can support pre-defined applications including, but not limited to, the following:
HTTP Port 80 HTTPS Port 443 SMTP Port 25 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Port 21 control, Port 20 data control and Data ICMP Telnet Port 23 DNS Port 53 Network Time Protocol (NTP) Port 123 (User Datagram Protocol (UDP)) SSH Port 22 Post Office Protocol (POP) Ports 109/110 IMAP Ports 143/220 Remote Procedure Call Port 111 SNMP Ports 161 (UDP)/162 (TCP/UDP) BGP ActiveSync Secure SMTP (SSMTP) Port 465 Secure IMAP (IMAP4-SSL) Port 585 IMAP4 over SSL (IMAPS) Port 993 Secure POP3 (SSL-POP) Port 995
The firewall 602 can also support HTTP/HTTPS on non-standard ports through customer definition.
§7.3 Application Support
The firewall 602 can provide application signature support which provides the visibility necessary for administrators to understand the applications running on the network including firewall services and applications. The application signature can detect a set of applications via a compiled signature database. The signatures are grouped into default groups with individual apps added to the appropriate group. A user can define a custom group and define which group an application resides. Signatures for custom applications are user definable (typically through a Regular Expression (regex) engine).
FIG. 9 is a screen shot associated with the firewall 602 illustrating exemplary network services. Specifically, the firewall 602 includes several predefined services based on ports. Further, users can create their own customer services and service groups. FIG. 10 is a screen shot associated with the firewall 602 illustrates exemplary applications. In an exemplary embodiment, the firewall 602 can support thousands of applications (e.g., approximately 1200 applications), covering Peer-to-Peer (P2), Instant Messaging (IM), port evasive applications, streaming media, and other applications. Again, because the firewall 602 is multi-tenant and distributed (e.g., worldwide), new services and applications can be added instantly, across all customers and locations.
Referring to FIG. 11, in an exemplary embodiment, a diagram illustrates a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) engine 650 for the firewall 602. The DPI engine 650 is part of or works with the firewall 602 to categorize incoming packets 652 to the firewall 602. The DPI engine 650 includes application plugins 654, application ID metadata 656, and flow processing 658. The application plugins 654 is configured to receive application updates 660 that can be regularly or periodically provided by the cloud system 500. Through the application updates 660, the firewall 602 can support more than the approximately 1200 applications. The application ID metadata 656 provides details on how different applications are detected. The flow processing 658 operates on the incoming packets 652 using the application ID metadata 656 to determine applications associated with the incoming packets 652. The flow processing 658 identifies the protocol and application behind each IP flow of the packets 652 using stateful inspection and heuristic analysis through the extraction of metadata from protocols (e.g. app info, volume, jitter) and does not requires SSL decryption. If the DPI engine 650 cannot classify app traffic, it will be categorized as either TCP, UDP, HTTP, or HTTPS. The DPI engine 650 can provide reporting 672 data to the log 604 as well as receive policy 674 updates.
The DPI engine 650 can use various classification methods including explicit, Protocol Data Signature(s), Port-based classification over SSL, IP protocol number, pattern matching, session correlation, and the like. Explicit classification is at a bottom layer where a protocol is identified by information found in the layer below. For example, the IP protocol includes a field called “protocol” defining the protocol embedded in its payload. The Protocol Data Signature(s) is through a Protocol Data Engine. When parsing the HTTP, SSL, and Real Time Messaging Protocols (RTMP) protocol headers, the Protocol Data Engine can look at a combination of specific value such as HTTP:Server, HTTP:Uniform Resource Indicator (URI), HTTP:User_agent, RTMP:page_Uniform Resource Locator (URL), SSL:common_name, and classifies the upper protocol using this information. For example, Facebook is classified after seeing an HTTP host matching *.facebook.com or *.fbcdn.net. In an exemplary embodiment, the DPI engine 650 was shown to take about 20 packets in order to detect the application.
For Port-based classification over SSL, in order to classify flows on top of SSL, the TCP port can be used in order to differentiate HTTPS, IMAPS, POP3, etc. For example, POP3 is classified in the SSL TCP port 995. For IP protocol number, this is a subset to the explicit classification for protocols above IP. As described above, protocols above IP are explicitly specified in the IP protocol. For pattern matching, content parsing is used to identify the protocol. For example, the pattern matching searches for multiple patterns such as HTTP/1.[0|1], [GET|POST|HEAD|CONNECT|PUT|DELETE], and the like. For session correlation, information is required extracted from another flow in which the other protocol negotiated an IP and port for opening a new flow. For example, FTP-data by itself is only a binary streamed over the network and does not provide any information for classification. The only way to classify it is by using information from the FTP session leading to the opening of this flow in which FTP is specifying the IP and port to use for the ftp_data session.
FIG. 13 is screen shots of editing IP groups. Specifically, FIG. 13 illustrates editing a source IP group and editing a destination IP group. IP groups can be predefined for the internal network and destination IPs. Destination IPs can be configured with IP-based countries and IP categories. FIG. 14 is screen shots of editing a network service. The firewall 602 can include editing HTTP and HTTPS network services to include non-port 80/443 ports, including configured ports that are not used in other services.
§8.0 Policy
A firewall policy (or rule) is an exact description of what the firewall 602 is supposed to do with particular traffic. When enabled, the firewall 602 always have at least one active rule, although usually multiple rules are employed to differentiate traffic varieties by {source, destination, and application} and treat them differently. In general, firewall policy consists of matching criteria, an action, and some attributes: rule_rank rule_label [who] [from] [to] [network service] [network application] [when] action [action restrictions] [rule status] [logging]
The firewall 602 supports a policy construct, to determine where firewall policy is enforced during an overall order of operation of packet flow through the cloud node 502. In an exemplary embodiment, there are three types of policy, namely firewall policy, NAT policy, and DNS policy.
The firewall policy construct supports a rule order, status, criteria, and action. Policies are matched in the rule order in which they were defined. The status is enabled or disabled. The matching criteria can include the following:
From Location, Department, Group, IP Address, IP Address Group, IP address Ranges, User, and/or User Group To IP address, Address Group, Domain Name or countries Firewall L4 services as listed above, and new services may be service(s) defined by Source IP, Destination IP, Source Port, Destination Port, and Protocol Firewall L7 application supported by a Deep Packet Inspection application(s) (DPI) engine When Schedule Daily quota Time or bandwidth, allowing the user to configure the amount of time or bandwidth a user is allowed for a certain application. Action Allow or block by either dropping traffic or by sending TCP reset
All components of the matching criteria are optional and if skipped imply “any.” A session matches a rule when all matching criteria components of the rule are satisfied (TRUE) by the session. If a session matches any element of a component (i.e. one of the IPs in a group), then the entire component is matched.
A rule might be configured as either company-wide, or restricted to up to a certain number of locations, or up to a certain number of departments, or up to a certain number of users. Some rules might extend their coverage to the entire cloud (SNATor tracking rules), applying to every company in the cloud. Source/destination IPs are a group of the following in any number/combination. It is used to match session source/destination IPs:  individual IP, i.e. 192.168.1.1;  IP sub-net, i.e. 192.168.1.0/24;  IP range, i.e. 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.5. Note that there is no special support for IP range exclusions;  IP category. Same as URL category and comes from a database. Custom categories are supported. Applicable to destination IPs only;  country—matches any IP that belongs to this country, i.e. “Russia”. Applicable only to destination IPs;  domain name—any destination IPs behind this name matches this criterion. For example, any IP that matches “skype.com”. Data plane builds an IP cache to match the names from DNS requests coming from the clients.
A network service is a group of {TCP/UDP, {src/dst port(s), or port ranges, or port sets} } or just ICMP. Network service defines an application based on L3/L4 information of the first packet in a session. Following is restrictions and implementation details: Each network service can be identified either by its name (aka label) or invisible for customer slot number in the range from 0 to 127. The slot number is required for firewall logging. Following slot numbers are reserved to simplify data plane implementation:  0—predefined customizable HTTP service group;  1—predefined customizable HTTPS service group;  2—predefined customizable DNS service group;  3-5—reserved for future use;  6—ICMP any. This service covers ANY ICMP traffic;  7—UDP any. This service covers ANY UDP traffic—port from 0 to 65535;  8—TCP any. This service covers ANY TCP traffic—port from 0 to 65535;  63—OTHER. This service covers all network services that don't match any predefined or custom services. Basically, it will catch all protocols other than ICMP, UDP, and TCP.  64—is the very first slot of the custom services. The customer can be allowed to alter (add, modify or delete) protocol and ports in all predefined services except ICMP any, UDP any, TCP any and OTHER. Although the customer is not allowed to delete a predefined network service, or modify its name, or delete all protocol/port entries in a particular predefined service. Different services must not have overlapping ports for the same protocols. The only exception is predefine *_any services. Data plane chooses more specific network service for logging. For example, if session matches 2 network services TCP any and SSH then SSH is logged for this session.
The network application is defined based on L7 info. This is preconfigured for the cloud and comes only from the DPI engine 650. Rank is the priority of the rule. Rank is needed to resolve conflicts when a session matches more than one rule. The highest priority rule (the least rank number) takes precedence;
A Rule's action defines what should be done with the matching session. There might be several actions required to apply to a single session. For example, the first action lets the session go through (allow), a next action tells of tracking the session using state-full TCP proxy, next is to apply source NAT to the session, and final action redirects the session to a preconfigured IP. All these different actions belong to different rules. In other words, if the firewall 602 can apply up to 4 different actions to a single session it's required to fetch up to 4 different policies for that session. To minimize the number of rules shown to the user front end might want to plump different rule types into a single rule as far as matching criteria is the same for those rules.
Here are exemplary supported types of policies categorized by action type:  filtering policies—to allow or block sessions;  tracking policies—tell how to track allowed sessions—state-fully or statelessly;  SNAT policies—dictate how to apply source NAT;  DNAT policies—configures destination NAT;  bandwidth control policies;  DNS policies—provide DNS-specific actions. Tracking, SNAT and DNAT policies must be enforced at the first packet. Hence, they do not support network application matching component since its evaluation takes several packets. Action restrictions allow to modify rule action depending on some dynamic info. For example, the customer might want limit total time or bytes per day of youtube.com traffic.
Depending on the action there are different types of rules. The following types can be supported:  filtering rules are evaluated first. Monitored rule status overrides (only) filtering rules action—makes it allow without any restrictions. This type of rules is user configurable. They provide following actions:  allow—pass to the evaluation of other types of rules. This action might have an additional restriction for daily time/bandwidth quota;  block drop—silently drop all packet that match the rule;  block_reset—for TCP sessions send TCP reset to the client. For non-TCP traffic act same as block_drop; and block_icmp—response to the client with ICMP error message type 3 (Destination unreachable), code 9 or 10 (network/host administratively prohibited).
Tracking rules provide—state-full or stateless action. Only OPs configure this type of rules; they are hidden from the user. The granularity of who component in the matching criteria should be from user to cloud wide.
SNAT rules dictate which type of outbound IP should be used for all the traffic matching such rule. Two types of outbound IPs are supported—open and secure. SNAT rules are applied to all outbound traffic, and there is no way to disable it. These rules might be configured by OPs only. The only purpose of SNATrules is to isolate harmful traffic from the rest of the clients. Requires persistence on SME. The granularity of who component in the matching criteria should be from user to cloud wide.
DNAT (redirect) rules provide destination IP and port (as the action attribute). They tell where the client side traffic has to be redirected. Port is optional and when is not specified firewall does not alter destination port. DNAT is user configurable.
A Rule's attributes include:  rule rank—reflects the priority of the rule comparing to the other rules;  rule label—rule specific label (or name) which is shown in firewall reports. This is a way to match configuration and reporting;  rile status—administrative status of the rule—enabled, disabled or monitor;  logging—tells how to log sessions created via this rule.
The NAT policy construct includes source NAT and destination NAT. For the source NAT, all applications including custom defined applications are NAT'ed with a public IP address associated with the cloud system 500 (source NAT'ed). All return traffic is received and sent back to the appropriate IPsec or GRE tunnel. It may be desirable from an operations perspective to have a different IP address for firewall source NAT'd traffic that for HTTP(S) source NAT'd traffic. This is to avoid blacklists between the two functionalities, so the firewall 602 customers do not accidently blacklist our HTTP only customers. For destination NAT (DNAT), in cases where the customer wants to force a protocol out a particular port DNAT will be required.
The DNS policy construct includes the following:
To IPs and countries IP/domain category Group of IP or domain categories derived Network service Network application Action Allow, block, redirect_request (to a different DNS server or substitute IP in response with pre- configured IP)
DNS might be policed on the session as well as on transaction (individual request) levels. While session DNS policies have regular policy structure the DNS transaction policies are different:
rule_label [who] [from] [to] [IP/domain category] [when] action [action restrictions] [rule status] [logging]
The differences are:  to—a group of IPs and countries. Note that IP categories should not be included here to avoid confusion. These are IPs or countries of the destination DNS server;  IP/domain category—a group of IP or domain categories derived from ZURL DB. These categories are derived from matching DNS request domain or responded IP a database. Such separation of to (server IP) and IP/domain category allows to configure fine granular matching criteria like “malicious IP/domain request sent to specific DNS server”;  network service—is not configurable here because DNS transaction policies get applied only to the sessions that matched predefined DNS service group;  network application—is not configurable. There is no way to find application just by IP (w/o port/protocol). This finds out the application when a client comes with a session using resolved IP as destination IP. Besides URL category lookup does not return application ID. The application requires one extra look up;  action—actions applied only to DNS transactions. It includes allow, block, redirect request (redirect to a different DNS server), redirect_response (substitute IP in response with preconfigured IP). Rules with redirect_request action can be applied only to the request phase of DNS transaction. Rules with redirect_response action are applicable only to the response phase of DNS transaction. And finally rules with allow or block actions are evaluated during both phases (request and response) of DNS transaction.
The firewall 602 can support various policies, e.g., 128 policies, 1024 policies, etc., including variable locations, departments, and users per policy. Again, since the firewall 602 is multi-tenant, policies can be different for each customer as well as different for different locations, departments, and users per customer. For user-based policy, a specific user must have IP surrogation enabled for user tracking. FIG. 12A is a screen shot of defining a firewall filtering rule. The rule is named, has an order and rank, and is enabled/disabled. Matching criteria is set for the users, groups, departments, locations  Who, From, To, Network Service, Network App, When. Finally, the action is determined—Allow, Block/Drop, Block with ICMP Error Response, Block with TCP Reset. FIG. 12B is another screen shot of defining a firewall filtering rule. Network service and network application criteria in the same rule results in a logical “AND” condition. In FIG. 12B, a Telnet network service on Port 23 and a Telnet network application on any port—“AND” results in telnet protocol as detected by the DPI engine 650 must be on port 23. Conversely, criteria within the same network service or network app are logical “OR.”
Referring to FIG. 15, in an exemplary embodiment, a flow diagram illustrates packet flow through the cloud node 502. Again, all traffic 680 between users and the Internet 504 is processed through the cloud node 502 (or the processing node). The traffic 680 can be received at a Location Based (LB) instance 682 which could also receive traffic from GRE, a Virtual IP (VIP) IPsec, a LB VIP, etc. From the LB instance 682, the traffic 680 is sent to one or more instances 684, 686, 688 (labeled as instance #1, #2, #3). For illustration purposes, the instance 686 is shown which includes a firewall engine 690, a Web engine 692, and a policy engine 694. The firewall engine 690 forwards on port 80/443 traffic to the policy engine 694 and port 80/443 traffic to the Web engine 692. If Web policy and FW policy are configured for a Web application, Web policy is applied first and then FW policy will be enforced. The policy engine 694 is configured to enforce Web and firewall policies and to send the traffic 680 to the Internet 504.
Referring to FIG. 16, in an exemplary embodiment, a flowchart illustrates a process 700 for packet flow through the firewall 602 from a client. The process 700 includes receiving a packet (step 702). If the packet is from a tunnel (step 704), the packet is de-encapsulated (step 706) and the process 700 returns to step 702. After step 704, a firewall session lookup is performed (step 708). If no firewall session exists, the process 700 checks if the packet is location based (step 710). If the packet is not location based (step 710) and not port 80/443 traffic (step 712), the traffic is dropped (step 714). If the packet is location based (step 710), the process 700 checks if the packet is destined for the cloud node 502 (step 716) and if so, moves to step 712. If the packet is not destined for the cloud node 502 (step 716), the process 700 includes creating a firewall session (step 718). After step 718 and if a firewall session exists in step 708, the process 700 checks if the traffic is port 80/443 (step 720), and if so, established a web proxy (step 722). After steps 716, 722, the process 700 checks is location firewall is enabled (step 724). If so, the traffic is processed by the firewall engine 690, and if not, the traffic is NAT'd (step 726). The firewall engine 690 analyzes the traffic through a network services/DPI engine (step 728), applies firewall policy (step 730), and the traffic is NAT'd (step 726). Finally, the packet is sent (step 732).
Referring to FIG. 17, in an exemplary embodiment, a flowchart illustrates a process 750 for packet flow through the firewall 602 from a server. The process 750 includes receiving a packet (step 752) and a firewall session lookup is performed (step 754). If no session exists, the process checks if the traffic is port 80/443 (step 756), and if not, drops the traffic (step 758). If the traffic is port 80/443 (step 756), a firewall session is created (step 760) and a Web proxy is performed (step 762). The process 750 checks is location firewall is enabled (step 764). If so, the traffic is processed by the firewall engine 690, and if not, the traffic is NAT'd (step 766). The firewall engine 690 analyzes the traffic through a network services/DPI engine (step 768), applies firewall policy (step 770), and the traffic is NAT'd (step 766). Finally, the packet is sent (step 772).
Every packet hits the firewall 602 which requires the firewall 602 to process packets as efficiently as possible. This is achieved by having slow and fast paths for packet processing. The slow path deals with the very first packet of a new session. It is slow because the corresponding policy has to be found and firewall resources allocated (memory, ports, etc.) for the session. All packets of an existing session go through a fast path where only a simple lookup is required to find the corresponding session.
Here is a description of policy evaluation of a first packet in a session—the slow path:
every packet hits the firewall code first—it is intercepted on the ip input( ) level;
if the packet destined to one of the cloud system 500's IP addresses, a pass up session is created, and the packet is forwarded up to the network stack. No firewall policy is evaluated in this case;
the who component of matching criteria is evaluated based on a combination of:
client IP— inner IP in case of tunnel or just client IP in case of L2 redirection; o tunnel info—outer IP of the tunnel;
default location IP if auth_default_location_ip is configured to 0 value in sc.conf. This IP is used as location IP and overrides any tunnel info;
based on the who value following actions might be taken:
if the packet came for a road warrior (no location is found for the client's IP) and status was ready at least once then pass up this session.
the packet came from a known location. If firewall functionality is disabled for the company—a pass up session is created, and packet gets forwarded to the networks stack.;
if the firewall is not configured for the location, a new session object gets created with allow action and the packet are SNATed out. The session is allowed to overcome rule infrastructure limitation of only up to 8 locations per rule—the i.e. company wants to disable FW in 100 locations out of 10000. Otherwise, firewall policy evaluation continues;
if firewall fails to retrieve company, location or user configuration due lack of resources (out of memory), then the packet is silently dropped. If config retrieval failure is due any other reason then the cloud wide default policy is applied to the session;
finally, if the firewall is configured for the client, and all configuration is available the session is treated per configured policies;
for policy lookup, firewall queries the configuration of the corresponding company, location, location user and if available surrogate IP user. Company config contains a list of all firewall rules. The location has the firewall enable/disable knob. And the two users configs tell which firewall rules are enabled for the particular location and particular surrogate IP user.
policy lookup is done to find the highest priority best-matching rule using all enabled rules for the location OR surrogate IP user. In other words, policy lookup evaluated all rules enabled for the location as well as for the surrogate IP user. Note that if a user belongs to a company A while coming to SME from location of company B then only location configured policies are applied to such user;
to determine network application (which mostly comes from layer 7) DPI engine usually have to see more than one packet. That is why all filtering rules with “other-than-any” network application component are replaced with similar rules where network application is any and action is allowed. Based on the result of the policy look up firewall creates a session object and acts accordingly. For example, a rule from_subnet_1 network_application_tor DENY for the first look up gets replaced with from_subnet_1 network_application_any ALLOW;
when several packets later network application are determined by DPI, it notifies firewall about the findings. At this point, firewall checks the original (non-modified) policies and if needed can correct actions applied to the session. Using the previous example, the DENY rule will be checked during this second policy look up.
Again, all traffic is inspected through the cloud node 502. Web Traffic (Port 80/443) is sent to the Web Policy engine 692. If firewall (non-port 80/443) is enabled then, all web traffic is sent to the firewall engine 690 for inspection. Firewall traffic is sent to the firewall engine 690 and will go through the firewall policy table. Web policies are inspected first. Firewall policies are enforced after all web policies. If there is a web allow policy, firewall policies are still evaluated.
FIG. 18 is a screen shot of creating firewall policies. The policies have an order, rule name, criteria, and action. Firewall policies start by defining the Network Services to Allow followed by Network Applications. A basic policy is defined to allow HTTP, HTTPS, and DNS traffic just before the default rule. Again, it may take up to 20 packets in order for the DPI engine 650 to detect the Application. If a packet hits a Network Application policy, and the DPI engine 650 cannot determine the Application, then the packet is allowed, and next rule is not evaluated. The next rule will be evaluated once the Application is determined.
FIG. 19 is a screen shot of an NAT configuration. The firewall 602 can support destination NAT to redirect traffic to another IP and/or port. The use case is to control what resources a user can access. For example, a customer requires their users to go to an internal IP to access external non-web servers.
FIG. 20 is a screen shot of a user authentication screen. The user authentication can leverage existing authentication infrastructure in the systems 100, 500. In an exemplary embodiment, IP Surrogate is configured to map the IP address to the user. The user must authenticate with the Web first (or have a cookie stored).
FIG. 21 is a screen shot of DNS policy. For example, use case can include guest wireless where a sub location is created for a guest wireless to apply DNS-based policies. DNS policy includes an ability to apply policy based on DNS request—allow, block or redirect the request, redirect response. The DNS policy can be based on server IP or requested/resolved IP category.
§9.0 Reporting and Logging
The firewall 602 can support the log 604. In an exemplary embodiment, the log 604 can be through the logging nodes 140. The log 604 can be configurable. For example, by default, only blocked events or DNS events are logged. Aggregated logs can be used when logging exceeds certain thresholds or when large amounts of logs need to be processed and is of similar traffic type. For example, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) logs will only be logged until a certain threshold, e.g., 10/second, and then no additional logs will be sent until the traffic falls back under the threshold. The definition of the thresholds for firewall sessions can be defined.
Each firewall rule can be configured for full or aggregated logging. Full logging can be enabled by default on block policies. Aggregate logging can be the default on for Allow rules. Allow rules can have the option to be changed to Full logging. In another exemplary embodiment, two types of log formats are enabled per rule—i) Full Session logging−performed for all block firewall policies+DNS transactions, and ii) Hourly (or Aggregate) logging−performed for Web logs to avoid duplication with Web transactions.
A log format for the log 604 for firewall logs can include:
Firewall instance ID Session Duration Time Stamp User Department Location Incoming Source IP Incoming Destination IP Incoming Source Port Incoming Destination Port Outgoing Source IP Outgoing Destination IP Outgoing Source Port Outgoing Destination Port Matched firewall rules Firewall service Firewall application Action (Allow, block) Client TX Bytes (from client to firewall 602) - Outbound Client RX Bytes (from firewall 602 to client) - Inbound GRE or VPN IP Category Cloud node 502 ID
A log format for the log 604 for DNS Request/Response logs can include:
Log Number Time User Department Location Source IP Destination IP Query Domain IPs Category
A log format for the log 604 for Attack logs can include:
Port Scan Syn Flood Tear Drop ICMP Flood UDP Flood WinNuke Etc.
The purpose of the reports is primarily two-fold, namely i) to provide visibility into the top Applications and Services that are traversing the network and ii) to provide visibility into top firewall threats that have been detected. Note, because the firewall 602 is multi-tenant and distributed (e.g., worldwide), the visibility can be used to detect zero-day/zero-hour threats and instantly provide defense.
Several reports can be supported to display the various fields above in columns which can be configured to be visible or hidden in the display. The reports cab be available based on a number of sessions or bytes. The admin can have the ability to filter based on the various fields. The filter can allow admin (or other users) to show all sessions for a defined between for a particular user, IP address (Source or Destination), or group of IP addresses. There can be two types of reports: Real-time reports generated by Compressed Stats and Analyze reports generated by full session log analysis. Each report below is marked as (RT) Real-Time or (Analyze). Exemplary reports can include Firewall Usage Trend, Top firewall Applications (based # of sessions and bytes)—Includes Applications detected over HTTP, HTTPS (RT), Top Blocked Rules Hit (RT), Top Internal Source IPs (Analyze), Top Destination IPs (Analyze), Top Users (RT), Top Departments (RT), Top Locations (RT), List of Top Users/Departments/Locations with Top Protocols for each User/Dept/Location, List of Top IPs with Top protocols per IP, Top firewall Attacks (Analyze), etc.
FIG. 22 is a screen shot of a reporting screen for firewall insights. FIG. 23 is a screen shot of an interactive report for firewall insights. FIG. 24 is a screen shot of a graph of usage trends through the firewall 602. FIG. 25 is graphs of top firewall protocols in sessions and bytes.
In an exemplary embodiment, a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall session logging method performed by a cloud node includes firewall Session Stats logging where are a firewall module records aggregated statistics based on various criterion such as client IP, user, network application, location, rule ID, network service etc., firewall Session Full logging where the firewall module records complete criterion such as user location, network application, customer location, rule ID, network service, client IP, etc. based on every session, and the firewall module implements Rule based choice of logging as described herein.
In another exemplary embodiment, a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall with integrated web proxy method is performed by a node in the cloud. Firewall traffic which is determined to be web traffic (default port 80/443) is sent through the web proxy prior to being processed by the firewall engine or non-web traffic (default non-port 80/443) traffic. Non-web traffic is processed by the firewall engine bypassing the web proxy engine. Rule order precedence of web traffic processed through the web proxy policies before being processed by firewall policies. The firewall module integrated web proxy could reply End User Notification pages if user traffic hits policies with action block.
1. A multi-tenant cloud-based firewall method from a client, performed by a cloud node, the method comprising:
receiving a packet from the client, wherein the client is located externally from the cloud node;
checking if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, processing the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session;
if no firewall session exists, creating the firewall session; and
processing the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud node performs the method without a corresponding appliance or hardware on premises, at a location associated with the client, for providing a firewall.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is from one of a plurality of customers, each customer having its own rules for any of users, locations, departments, and groups.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud node is part of a distributed security system and further comprising:
processing the packet for a plurality of malware, spyware, viruses, email spam, Data Leakage Prevention, and content filtering.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is connected to the cloud node via one of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and an Internet Protocol (IP) security (IPsec) tunnel, regardless of location and device type of the client.
determining an application associated with the packet and subsequent packets in the firewall session utilizing Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the DPI comprises one or more of explicit classification, use of protocol data signatures, classification based on port, classification based on Internet Protocol (IP), pattern matching, and session correlation.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more rules operate over all ports and protocols.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more rules comprise user-based filtering rules based on identifying the client based on surrogation.
10. A multi-tenant cloud-based firewall method from a server, performed by a cloud node, the method comprising:
receiving a packet from the server, wherein the server is located externally from the cloud node;
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cloud node performs the method without a corresponding appliance or hardware on premises, at a location associated with the server, for providing a firewall.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the server communicates with a client from one of a plurality of customers, each customer having its own rules for any of users, locations, departments, and groups.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein the cloud node is part of a distributed security system and further comprising:
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the client is connected to the cloud node via one of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and an Internet Protocol (IP) security (IPsec) tunnel, regardless of location and device type of the client.
16. The method of claim 10, wherein the DPI comprises one or more of explicit classification, use of protocol data signatures, classification based on port, classification based on Internet Protocol (IP), pattern matching, and session correlation.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more filtering rules operate over all ports and protocols.
18. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more rules comprise user-based rules based on identifying the client based on source IP surrogation.
19. A node in a cloud-based security system configured to provide a multi-tenant cloud-based firewall, comprising:
a network interface, a data store, and a processor communicatively coupled to one another; and
memory storing computer executable instructions, and in response to execution by the processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to perform steps of
receive a packet from a device, wherein the device is located externally from the cloud node;
check if a firewall session exists for the packet, and if so, process the packet on a fast path where a lookup is performed to find the firewall session;
if no firewall session exists, create the firewall session; and
process the packet according to the firewall session and one or more rules.
20. The node of claim 19, wherein the firewall session is paired between a client side and a server side where the client side establishes a session to reach the server via an original destination Internet Protocol (IP) address and port or via redirection based on configured Destination Network Address Translation (DNAT) policy, wherein the server side establishes a session using a 5-tuple based Network Address Translation with the destination IP and port based on the DNAT policy, the destination IP derived from a configured domain name, and source IP configured as an outbound IP of the multi-tenant cloud-based firewall and source port allocated based on the destination IP, the port and protocol.
US14/943,579 2015-11-17 2015-11-17 Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods Pending US20170142068A1 (en)
US14/943,579 US20170142068A1 (en) 2015-11-17 2015-11-17 Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods
EP16168949.2A EP3171568B1 (en) 2015-11-17 2016-05-10 Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods
US20170142068A1 true US20170142068A1 (en) 2017-05-18
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US14/943,579 Pending US20170142068A1 (en) 2015-11-17 2015-11-17 Multi-tenant cloud-based firewall systems and methods
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