Patent ID: 8842539

Claim:
A method of limiting an amount of network traffic reaching an electronic device operating an Ethernet networking protocol and using a network stack comprising at least one physical layer communicating with at least one link layer where data received is propagated to one or more higher layers of said network stack, said electronic device being connected to a communication network, said network traffic is filtered and an unwanted data reception addressed to said electronic device is filtered out, the method comprising: receiving said network traffic in said at least one physical layer of said electronic device, comparing said network traffic to at least one access control list, detecting said unwanted data reception, and sending a signal causing said unwanted data reception to be rejected and discarded at said link layer or media access controller before said unwanted data reception reaches said one or more higher layers of said network stack of said electronic device, characterised by switching on filtering dependent on a number of data packets received per unit time and inspecting said network traffic during reception from said at least one said physical layer to said at least one link layer or media access controller.