Patent ID: 7818565

Claim:
A method for managing one or more communication protocols, the method comprising: providing a protocol message gateway in an enterprise network, the protocol message gateway comprising a proxy server, the protocol message gateway operative to communicate with a firewall of the enterprise network; receiving first messages with the protocol message gateway over the enterprise network, the protocol message gateway further operative to determine whether selected ones of the first messages use a target protocol and, in response to said determination, implement policy rules associated with the target protocol; providing a proxy enforcer within the enterprise network operative to passively listen for second messages that bypass the protocol message gateway; detecting a selected second message with the proxy enforcer, said detecting comprising determining that a message protocol associated with the selected second message matches an instant messaging protocol definition file; in response to detecting the selected second message, using the proxy enforcer to force the selected second message to use a defined port on the protocol message gateway; and using the protocol message gateway to implement at least one of the policy rules in association with the selected second message.