Patent ID: 8140694

Claim:
A method of effecting secure communications between a server and a client, the server executed in a server computer, the method comprising: detecting, at the server computer, a client connection at a first port; providing, by the server computer, the client with a decoy port number; and providing, by the server computer, services to the client on a second port having a second port number that is mapped to the decoy port number, wherein the second port number is different from the decoy port number; and maintaining, in the server computer, a table of available decoy port numbers that are mapped to valid port numbers wherein the table maintained in the server computer corresponds to a second table maintained at a client computer on which the client is executed, the second table mapping decoy numbers to valid port numbers at the client computer; monitoring the second port for a connection by the client, and if there is no connection by the client within a predetermined time interval, terminating execution of the server on the second port.