Patent · US Expired

Network switches for detection and prevention of virus attacks

US7418732B2 · kind B2 · utility

39Cited by
6References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 26, 2002
Grant dateAug 26, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 30, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L63/145
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Network switches with enhanced processing power and a virus information database are used to detect possible virus attacks and identify the source of the attacks within a computer network. A network switch has multiple ports that are directly connected to different computers for routing network communication packets among the computers. The packets passing through the network switch are scanned for virus signatures and/or patterns of virus attacks. In an off-line scan mode, a copy of the packets passing through the switch is saved into a packet queue for scanning. Alternatively, in an on-line scan mode, packets received by the network switch are scanned for virus signatures or virus attack patterns before being forwarded to their destination ports.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.