Patent ID: 7716472

Claim:
A network-communication method comprising: detecting network activity between a router of a local area network and a wide area network, the local area network comprising a plurality of client devices; decoding the network activity; responsive to the decoding step, obtaining at least a source network address for the network activity, the source network address being a network-layer address of the router of the local area network; using the source network address to establish a transparent networking bridge between the local area network and the wide area network, the using step comprising assigning to the transparent networking bridge a network-layer address having a same range as the source network address; wherein the transparent networking bridge establishes a connection with at least one server located on the wide area network; wherein the transparent networking bridge is unknown to the plurality of client devices on the local area network; wherein the transparent networking bridge has no network-layer address or device address specifically assigned thereto; and providing security services to the plurality of client devices on the local area network via the at least one server; wherein the detected network activity is outbound network activity from the local area network to the wide area network; wherein the obtaining step comprises obtaining a device address of a first gateway of the wide area network; and wherein the first gateway of the wide area network belongs to a network service provider providing access to the wide area network.