Device identification and policy enforcement using power over ethernet (POE)

• US 10,382,215 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2016
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ForeScout Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ForeScout Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Walden, Gilad, Reisner, Tomer, Mayer, Kevin, Khanin, Svetlana
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong
• Application Number:
  US15/073,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20170180141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 709224, 370328, 370352, 370338, 726 23, 726 25
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/104 of other parameters, e.g. DC offset, delay or propagation times
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40045 Details regarding the feeding of energy to the node from the bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

Systems, methods, and related technologies for device identification and policy enforcement using Power over Ethernet (PoE) are described. In certain aspects, a communication that originates from a Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device can be received. The communication can be processed to determine a characteristic of the device. An action can be initiated based on the characteristic.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, based on a network protocol, the presence of a Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device connected to a network;

monitoring network activity originating from or being directed to the PoE enabled device to determine how the device is communicating with other devices on the network;

monitoring a network protocol to determine an amount of electrical power that the PoE enabled device is consuming;

receiving a communication that originates from the Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device that reflects an amount of power consumed by the PoE device;

processing, by a processing device, the amount of power consumption consumed with the PoE enabled device to identify a deviation from a power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device; and

blocking power transmission directed to the PoE enabled device via a network connection based on the deviation from the power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring network activity associated with the PoE enabled device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the communication further comprises processing the network activity associated with the PoE enabled device to determine the one or more characteristics of the PoE enabled device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) communication.

5. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, to;

detect, based on a network protocol, the presence of a Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device connected to a network;

monitor network activity originating from or being directed to the PoE enabled device to determine how the device is communicating with other devices on the network;

monitor a network protocol to determine an amount of electrical power that the PoE enabled device is consuming;

receive a communication that originates from the Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device that reflects an amount of power consumed by the PoE device;

process the amount of power consumption consumed with the PoE enabled device to identify a deviation from a power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device; and

block power transmission directed to the PoE enabled device via a network connection based on the deviation from the power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processing device is further to initiate an action based on the deviation from the power consumption pattern associated with the POE enabled device and the characteristic of the PoE enabled device.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

detect, based on a network protocol, the presence of a Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device connected to a network;

monitor network activity originating from or being directed to the PoE enabled device to determine how the device is communicating with other devices on the network;

monitor a network protocol to determine an amount of electrical power that the PoE enabled device is consuming;

receive a communication that originates from the Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled device that reflects an amount of power consumed by the PoE device;

process the amount of power consumption consumed with the PoE enabled device to identify a deviation from a power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device; and

block network traffic directed to the PoE enabled device based on the characteristic and the amount of power consumed by the PoE enabled device.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein to process the communication, the processing device is further to initiate the action based on the characteristic, the amount of power consumed by the PoE enabled device, and the deviation from the power consumption pattern associated with the PoE enabled device.