Patent ID: 8375418

Claim:
A method for protecting connections in a private access network from unauthorized connections from a public access network, the method comprising: retrieving all media address codes (MAC) and Internet protocol (IP) addresses in a computer connected to a private access network; performing an analysis of a communications configuration of the computer; analyzing a plurality of shares in the computer including establishing an interface to a network application programming interface (API) within the operating system; checking for the existence of an administrative hard drive share and, if present, removing it from the computer; checking for the existence of an administrative root folder share and, if present, removing it from the computer; and obtaining an active shares list; retrieving a software update policy for the computer; configuring the computer for secure network communications and secure software updates using the communications connections policies; allowing a network connection for an automated software update; if the network connection is from an approved policy for automated software updates; and terminating the network connection and logging the IP address of the terminated network connection, if the network connection is not from an approved policy for automated software updates.