Patent ID: 7823194

Claim:
A method for monitoring communications within a computer network, wherein the computer network includes a plurality of authorized users, comprising the steps of: assigning a unique user identifier to each authorized user of the computer network: assigning a unique system identifier to each authorized computer within the computer network; after a specific authorized user has successfully logged in to the computer network using a specific authorized computer, intercepting a synchronization packet within the computer network, the synchronization packet associated with a specific TCP/IP communication initiated by the specific authorized user using the specific authorized computer, wherein the synchronization packet has a header and wherein the header includes the unique user identifier of the specific authorized user and the unique system identifier of the specific authorized computer; extracting the unique user identifier and the unique system identifier from the header of the synchronization packet; storing in a database the unique user identifier and the unique system identifier extracted from the header of the synchronization packet; and associating in the database the unique user identifier and the unique system identifier with the specific TCP/IP communication for future identification of the specific authorized user and specific authorized computer initiating the specific TCP/IP communication.