Patent ID: 7149892

Claim:
A method for secure communications between a client and one of a plurality of servers performed on an intermediary device coupled to the client and said plurality of servers, comprising: (a) establishing an open communications session between the intermediary device and the client via an open network; (b) negotiating a secure communications session with the client; (c) establishing an open communications session with said one of said plurality of servers via a secure network; (d) receiving encrypted application data from the client via the secure communications session, wherein the encrypted application data was encrypted by the client device by encrypting application data at a session layer above a packet level of a network stack of the client; (e) decrypting the encrypted application data; (f) forwarding the decrypted application data to the server via the secure network; (g) receiving application data from the server via the secure network; (h) encrypting the application data; and (i) sending encrypted application data to the client, wherein the steps (e) and (f) are performed at the packet level of a network stack of the intermediate device without processing the application data with an application layer of the network stack of the intermediate device.