Patent ID: 8631139

Claim:
A method for establishing secure connections over a network between a client and a server connected to the network which does not accept explicit connection requests or packets from any client, using a third party computer trusted by both said server and said client, said server being connected to said network via a firewall configured to deny at least some requests to connect to the server initiated from outside the firewall or network address translator (NAT) router, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by the third party computer, a connection request from said client to be connected to said server: the connection request comprising at least one connection parameter including a network address for said client; transmitting to said client, by said third party computer, a connection identifier known by said server and a server network address associated with the server; transmitting to said server, by said third party computer, the at least one connection parameter, wherein a network communication is transmitted by the client to the server network address, the network communication including the connection identifier, the network communication received and verified by the firewall including a verification of the connection identifier, and wherein the server initiates a network connection between the server and the client upon successful verification of the network communication such that subsequent network communications between the server and the client are transmitted over the network connection and not through the third party computer.