Patent ID: 8015611

Claim:
A security system, comprising: a router; and a security sub-system component of the router; wherein the security sub-system includes a plurality of virtual firewalls, a plurality of virtual intrusion prevention systems (IPSs), and a plurality of virtual virus scanners all integrated into a single sub-system; wherein each of the virtual firewalls, IPSs, and virus scanners is assigned to at least one of a plurality of users and is configured a user-specific manner; wherein the user-specific configuration is provided utilizing a plurality of user-specific policies selected by each user such that a first user of the single sub-system is capable of specifying a first policy and a second user of the single sub-system is capable of specifying a second policy different than the first policy; wherein the security sub-system component of the router exchanges state information, which includes an active or a standby status per port, with another security sub-system component of another router; wherein if the exchanged state information indicates that the security sub-system component and the other security sub-system component are both active for a port, then the security sub-system component and the other security sub-system component renegotiate a respective status of each security sub-system component for the port.