Patent ID: 8418244

Claim:
A method of providing security in instant communications, comprising, at a first node: receiving, over a network from a server, a security mapping; generating a tunnel configuration file based on the security mapping; associating a first set of security criteria with one or more contacts of a user; based on the first set of security criteria and the tunnel configuration file, a tunnel manager, executing at the first node, creating a first end-point of a first tunnel, wherein a second end-point of the first tunnel is associated with a second node that is different than the first node and that is associated with one of the one or more contacts; receiving, at the tunnel manager, a first instant communication from a first instant communication application executing at the first node; in response to receiving the first instant communication from the first instant communication application, the tunnel manager: based on the first set of security criteria, packaging the first instant communication, and sending the packaged first instant communication to the second end-point; based on a particular set of security criteria, the tunnel manager creating a first particular end-point of a particular tunnel, wherein a second particular end-point of the particular tunnel is associated with a particular node; receiving, at the tunnel manager, a second instant communication from a second instant communication application that is executing at the first node and that is different than the first instant communication application; in response to receiving the second instant communication from the second instant communication application, the tunnel manager: based on the particular set of security criteria, packaging the second instant communication, and sending the packaged second instant communication to the second particular end-point.