Patent ID: 8555389

Claim:
A method, comprising: processing content received at a router with a security sub-system, wherein the security sub-system includes a plurality of virtual firewalls, a plurality of virtual intrusion prevention systems (IPSs), a plurality of virtual virus scanners, and a plurality of content filtering modules, wherein each of the virtual firewalls, IPSs, virus scanners, and content filtering modules are assigned to at least one of a plurality of users; exchanging state information with a different security sub-system on a different router to support a failover, the state information including an active status or a standby status per port; renegotiating a respective status of each security sub-system component for a port if the exchange state information indicates that both the security sub-system component and the different security sub-system are active for the port; and prohibiting certain details associated with policies applied above a user's domain from being displayed to a particular one of the users, wherein the policies relate to the virtual firewalls, IPSs, virus scanners, and content filtering modules.