Patent ID: 8582468

Claim:
A method for providing proxy services between a public network and a private network, the method comprising: receiving, at an encryptor element, a first packet having a first destination address and a first source address, the first packet comprising a join message including a list of sources to join in a group; determining, by the encryptor element, a number of distinct network interfaces linked to the list of sources, wherein at least one of the number of distinct network interfaces is shared by more than one source; encrypting the sources of the list of sources; establishing a private multicast group address for the list of sources, the first packet including the private multicast group address; establishing a public multicast group address for the list of sources; mapping the private multicast group address to the public multicast group address according to a table of multicast pre-placed keys, wherein each mapping has an associated encryption key; generating, at the encryptor element, a plurality of packets, each packet having a second source address and a second destination address, wherein the second source address is a network address of the encryptor element that masks the first source address and the second destination address is associated with a particular distinct network interface and the encrypted sources linked to the distinct network interface; specifying the public multicast group address in at least one generated packet; and transmitting each generated packet to a network element according to its second destination address, wherein at least one generated packet is transmitted to the public network in accordance with the public multicast group address and the at least one generated packet includes a membership report.