Telephony security system

• US 20070127448A1
• Filed: 11/03/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SecureLogix Corporation
• Original Assignee: SecureLogix Corporation
• Inventors: Pickens, Keith, Buntin, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport

Abstract

A system and method of telephony resource management and security for monitoring and/or controlling incoming and outgoing calls between an enterprise'"'"'s end-user stations and a public circuit-switched network and/or a public packet-switched network. A security policy is made up of one or more rules designating at least one action to be performed based on at least one attribute of the incoming or outgoing call. Calls are detected and sensed on the line, trunk and/or cabling, and analyzed to determine attributes associated with each call. Actions are performed based upon the determined attributes, in accordance with the security policy rules.

Claims

1. A method for centrally monitoring and/or controlling communications between a public packet-switched communications network and an enterprise packet-switched communications network, the method comprising the steps of:

centrally configuring at least one rule designating at least one action to be performed based on at least one attribute of a real-time packet-switched call between the public packet-switched communications network and the enterprise packet-switched communications network;

downloading the at least one rule to at least one in-line device connected to the enterprise packet-switched communications network;

routing the real-time packet-switched call through the at least one in-line device;

determining at least one attribute of the real-time packet-switched call;

generating at least one call event record associated with determining the at least one attribute of the real-time packet-switched call;

performing the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule;

generating at least one call event record associated with performing the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule;

generating a report based on at least one call event record generated in association with the real-time packet-switched call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute of the real-time packet-switched call is a call type of the real-time packet-switched call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one in-line device determines the at least one attribute of the real-time packet-switched call.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one in-line device performs the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a management server and/or other peripheral device performs the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of connecting the at least one in-line device in parallel with an Internet-Protocol firewall connected to the enterprise packet-switched communications network, such that the real-time packet switched call is routed through the at least one in-line device.

7. A centrally administered system for monitoring and/or controlling communications between a first communications network and a second communications network, the system comprising:

a centrally administered database comprising at least one rule designating at least one action to be performed based on at least one attribute associated with a call between the first communications network and the second communications network;

means for determining the at least one attribute associated with the call between the first communications network and the second communications network;

means for performing the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule;

wherein the first communications network comprises a public circuit-switched communications network, which provisions circuit-switched circuits to the public such that a physical circuit is temporarily established on demand and kept reserved for the call until the communications network receives a disconnect signal, and/or a public packet-switched communications network, which provisions packet-switched circuits to the public for carrying data in the form of packets;

wherein the second communications network comprises an enterprise circuit-switched communications network and/or an enterprise packet-switched communications network; and

wherein the means for determining the at least one attribute associated with the call comprises at least one in-line device connected to the second communications network.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one attribute associated with the call is an attribute of a circuit-switched call, an attribute of a real-time packet-switched call, or an attribute of two or more packets of the real-time packet-switched call.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one attribute associated with the call between the first communications network and the second communications network is the call type of the call.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein other attributes determined by the system includes at least one attribute selected from a group of attributes associated with circuit-switched and/or real-time packet-switched calls including:

the call direction;

the call source;

the call destination;

the keyword detected in the call content;

the call connect time;

the call start date;

the call start time;

the call end date;

the call end time;

the call duration;

the identifier for the extension or direct connect line carrying the call;

the PBX trunk through which the call is processed;

the channel through which the call is processed;

the digits dialed prior to the base phone number;

the digits dialed after the base phone number;

the codec used;

the number of bytes from the call source;

the number of bytes from the call destination;

the number of packets from the call source;

the number of packets from the call destination;

source transmission rate;

destination transmission rate;

source latency;

destination latency;

source jitter;

destination jitter;

source packet loss;

destination packet loss; and

total bandwidth used.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the means for performing the at least one action in accordance with the at least one rule comprises the at least one in-line device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for performing at least one action further comprises at least one management server and/or other peripheral device.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one rule is associated with at least one telephony resource connected to the second communications network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one telephony resource is selected from a group of telephony resources including a telephone station, fax machine, modem, STU-III device, video teleconference station, IP telephone, media gateway, call server, and IP firewall.

15. A method for centrally monitoring and/or controlling communications between a first communications network and a second communications network, the method comprising the steps of:

centrally configuring at least one rule designating at least one action to be performed based on at least one call attribute associated with a circuit-switched and/or real-time packet-switched call between the first communications network and the second communications network;

determining the at least one call attribute associated with the circuit-switched and/or the real-time packet-switched call from within the first communications network or the second communications network; and

performing the at least one action from within the first communications network or the second communications network;

wherein the first communications network comprises a circuit-switched communications network and/or a packet-switched communications network; and

wherein the second communications network comprises a circuit-switched communications network and/or an packet-switched communications network.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of routing the circuit-switched and/or real-time packet-switched call through at least one in-line device for determining the at least one call attribute associated with the circuit-switched and/or the real-time packet-switched call.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one call attribute is the call type of the circuit-switched and/or the real-time packet-switched call.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the call type attribute includes at least one attribute selected from a group of call types including:

voice,

fax,

data transfer (modem),

STU-III-voice,

STU-III-data,

STU-III-unspecified,

wideband,

wideband video

IP voice,

busy,

unanswered, and

undetermined.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining step is performed at least one point of converging communications network signaling.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the performing step is performed at least one point of converging communications network signaling.