Patent ID: 7814539

Claim:
A method for modifying a firewall policy of a firewall, the method comprising: receiving a first request to modify the firewall policy to allow packets associated with a new application to pass through the firewall without being blocked; categorizing, by a processor, each of the packets associated with the new application as questionable or acceptable; modifying, by the processor, the firewall policy to allow the packets categorized as acceptable to pass through the firewall unblocked; excluding, by the processor, the packets categorized as questionable from modification of the firewall policy such that the questionable packets are blocked from passing through the firewall; receiving a second request to modify the firewall policy to allow the packets associated with the new application to pass through the firewall without being blocked; and further modifying, by the processor, the firewall policy to allow at least a portion of the questionable packets previously blocked to pass through the firewall unblocked.