Patent ID: 8332948

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a data packet; examining the data packet; identifying a packet identifier using header data associated with the data packet; searching a flow table, using the packet identifier, to identify a single flow record associated with the data packet; extracting instructions for two or more security devices from the single flow record when the single flow record is identified in the flow table, the instructions relating to processing the data packet; communicating a respective one of the instructions to a respective one of the two or more security devices, communicating the respective one of the instructions to the respective one of the two or more security devices including: communicating a first instruction, of the instructions, to a first security device of the two or more security devices, and communicating a second instruction, of the instructions, to a second security device, of the two or more security devices, different than the first security device; receiving, from each of the two or more security devices, evaluation information, the evaluation information, received from the first security device, being generated by the first security device based on the first instruction, and the evaluation information, received from the second security device, being generated by the second security device based on the second instruction; and processing the data packet using the evaluation information received from each of the two or more security devices.