Patent ID: 7213265

Claim:
A method of operating a digital communication network having a plurality of nodes which have a locally hierarchical relationship, comprising the steps of: supplying identification information at a first node to a transmission received from the network even if a sender of the transmission is not identified; tracking network transmissions at the first node using the identification information and logging the identification information and a characteristic of the network transmission as traffic log information; communicating the traffic log information to another node; detecting a condition at the first node and communicating the condition to a trusted second node locally higher in said hierarchical relationship; disconnecting one or more nodes in the network to test for the origin and scope of a potential attack and reconnecting disconnected nodes not associated with the potential attack; collecting information regarding said condition and said traffic log through nodes at the same or higher hierarchical level as said trusted second node; and controlling a response at said first node in response to said information, wherein the controlling step includes switching a critical segment of the network to a secure mode when a threat is detected, and wherein the hierarchical relationship of the plurality of nodes is hidden to users of the network.