Patent ID: 8516542

Claim:
A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method, the method comprising: storing policy data for a plurality of entities; receiving a message in a network from a first entity for a response from a second entity, wherein the first entity is a user; identifying, in a database, first policy data corresponding to the user, the first policy data being user-specific and imposing a first set of security restrictions on the user to access the second entity, wherein the first set of security restrictions includes a first requirement for a password authentication by the user, and wherein the message is from the first one of the entities; identifying, in the database, second policy data associated with the second entity, the second policy data including a second set of security restrictions being specific to a group of users that includes the user, wherein the second set of security restrictions includes at least a second requirement separate from the first requirement for the user to be authorized to communicate with the second entity; identifying, in the database, third policy data corresponding to a device of the user, the third policy data enforcing of connection security and imposing a third set of security restrictions on the device of the user, wherein the third set of security restrictions includes at least a third requirement separate from the first requirement and the second requirement for the device of the user to have predefined characteristics; combining the first policy data with the second policy data and the third policy data, wherein the combined policy data is honored by both the first and second entities; associating the combined policy data with the message; determining whether the combined policy data is violated, wherein the combined policy data is violated when a security restriction from the first set of security restrictions, the second set of security restrictions, or the third set of security restrictions is violated; rejecting the message when the combined policy data is violated, and transmitting a policy violation message to either or both of the first and second entities; and transmitting the message when the combined policy data is not violated.