Patent ID: 8549612

Claim:
A machine-implemented method comprising: determining by a firewall whether a first packet should be admitted to a protected network; if the first packet is determined to be admitted to the protected network, receiving at an intrusion prevention system of the protected network a first reputation score for the first packet based upon a first source of the first packet, wherein the firewall is different from the intrusion protection system; in response to receiving the first reputation score, providing the first packet to a first one of a plurality of buffers of the intrusion prevention system, wherein each buffer is associated with a different range of reputation scores, and wherein the first packet is provided to the first buffer if the first reputation score is within the range of reputation scores associated with the first buffer; providing the first packet from the first buffer to a first one of a plurality of processing engines of the intrusion prevention system; processing the first packet by the first processing engine to determine if the first packet includes an exploit; forwarding the first packet to the protected network if the first packet does not include the exploit; determining by the firewall whether a second packet should be admitted to the protected network; if the second packet is determined by the firewall to be admitted to the protected network, receiving at the intrusion prevention system a second reputation score for the second packet based upon a second source of the second packet; in response to receiving the second reputation score, providing the second packet to a second one of the buffers, wherein the second packet is provided to the second buffer if the second reputation score is within the range of reputation scores associated with the second buffer; providing the second packet from the second buffer to a second one of the processing engines; processing the second packet by the second processing engine to determine if the second packet includes the exploit; and forwarding the second packet to the protected network if the second packet does not include the exploit.