Patent ID: 7996894

Claim:
A method for providing security to a client-to-client communication, the method comprising: authenticating a first client and a second client with an access point device, wherein the first and second clients are locally bridged via the access point device within a local area network (LAN); in response to a packet received from the first client, the packet having a destination internet protocol (IP) address of the second client, the access point device modifying a destination media access control (MAC) address of the packet to a MAC address of a security device associated with the LAN, wherein the security device is a gateway device interfacing the LAN and a wide area network (WAN); transmitting the packet with the modified destination MAC address to the security device, wherein the security device performs content filtering on the payload of the packet to determine whether the packet is eligible to reach the second client locally bridged to the first client within the LAN; in response to a result of the content filtering performed on the packet, if the packet is eligible to reach the second client, the security device determining the destination MAC address of the second client based on the destination IP address of the packet; the security device modifying the packet by replacing the destination MAC address of the packet with the determined destination MAC address of the second client; and the security device transmitting the modified packet to the second client over the LAN based on the destination MAC address of the second client.