Patent ID: 8307418

Claim:
A method for providing application layer firewall functionality including integrated deep packet inspection, intrusion detection, and intrusion prevention capabilities, the method comprising: at a session controller configured to operate at the border of a first network and a second network: receiving, at an intrusion protection system (IPS) module of the session controller interfacing with modules associated with layers 2 and above of a protocol stack of the session controller, information gathered by modules located at layers lower than the IPS and associated with an intrusion attempt, vulnerability, or other security policy violation; in response to receiving the information, providing, by the IPS module, at least one of a security policy and a rule to a module located at a targeted layer for securing against the intrusion attempt, vulnerability, or other security policy violation; forwarding, by a deep packet inspection (DPI) module, a first copy of a received communications message to an application firewall and rate admission control module located at layers 5 and 6 of the stack via a first path for in-line processing, wherein the application firewall and rate admission control module is located at a layer above the DPI module; and forwarding a second copy of the communications message to an intrusion detection system (IDS) module via a second path, wherein the first path is parallel to the second path and wherein forwarding the second copy is performed simultaneously with the forwarding of the first copy of the communications message.