Patent ID: 6941474

Claim:
A method for creating and maintaining a firewall subscription service, said method comprising the steps of: permitting customers to subscribe to said firewall subscription service, said firewall subscription service providing a plurality of different firewalls; subscribing, by a particular subscriber, to said firewall subscription service; associating one of said plurality of different firewalls with said particular subscriber, said one of said plurality of firewalls being unrelated to and not associated with any one of a plurality of different computer systems; accessing, by said particular subscriber, said firewall subscription service from one of said plurality of different computer systems; initiating a session with said firewall subscription service in response to said particular subscriber accessing said firewall subscription service; identifying, by said firewall subscription service, said particular subscriber; selecting, by said firewall subscription service utilizing said identity of said particular subscriber, said one of said plurality of firewalls that is associated with said particular subscriber; said one of said plurality of firewalls being selected regardless of which one of said plurality of said plurality of different computer systems is used by said particular subscriber to access said firewall subscription service; dynamically and temporarily assigning, by said firewall subscription service, said one of said plurality of different firewalls to said one of said plurality of computer systems used by said particular subscriber to access said firewall subscription service, said assignment of said one of said plurality of different firewalls to said one of said plurality of computer systems being temporary and lasting only during said session; said one of said plurality of firewalls offering a particular level of security to said one of said plurality of computer systems utilized by said subscriber when said one of said plurality of computer systems is communicating with an external network, said one of said plurality of firewalls receiving all communications transmitted to said one of said plurality of computer systems utilizing said external network, wherein all said communications transmitted to said one of said plurality of computer systems utilizing said external network are received first by said one of said plurality of firewalls; and utilizing said one of said plurality of firewalls to protect said one of said plurality of computer systems when said one of said plurality of computer systems receive communication utilizing said external network.