Patent ID: 7949732

Claim:
A method for passively and automatically enforcing a network configuration and usage policy on a network, comprising: predefining the network configuration and usage policy for an operating system; passively determining, at a processor disposed between a source device and a destination device, in response to plural protocol fields in one packet transmitted on the network from the source device to the destination device, that a network device on the network is using the operating system by reading, decoding, and analyzing the packet transmitted on the network, to determine the operating system being used by the network device, by comparing the plural protocol fields in the one packet to an operating system identifying structure, wherein the packet is in traffic passively moving across the network; and performing an action at the processor, the action being identified by the network configuration and usage policy as being for the operating system that was passively determined from the packet, the action being different for different operating systems, the protocol fields being network, transport, and application protocol fields.