VPN NETWORK CLIENT FOR MOBILE DEVICE HAVING DYNAMICALLY TRANSLATED USER HOME PAGE

• US 20120005745A1
• Filed: 12/14/2010
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pulse Secure, LLC (Ivanti Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Wei, Yin, Iyer, Subramanian, Campagna, Richard, Wood, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,458,787 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/086 using security domains

Abstract

A virtual private network (VPN) client for cellular mobile devices is described. The VPN network client processes network packets for securely tunneling the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device. Upon establishing the VPN connection, the VPN network client receives a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response, dynamically parses bookmark links from the secure response and renders a bookmark window using input controls native to the cellular mobile device without invoking a web browser on the cellular mobile device. Each of the input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response. Upon selection of one of the input controls, the VPN network client formulates and outputs an appropriate request to the secure VPN device as if a corresponding one of the bookmark links were selected by the user.

Claims

1. A cellular mobile device comprising:

a transmitter and receiver to send and receive cellular communications in the form of radio frequency signals;

a microprocessor;

a virtual private network (VPN) network client executing on the microprocessor to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device, wherein the VPN network client processes network packets for securely tunneling the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device,

wherein upon establishing the VPN connection the VPN network client receives a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response,

wherein the VPN network client dynamically parses bookmark links from the secure response and renders a bookmark window using input controls native to the cellular mobile device without invoking a web browser on the cellular mobile device, where each of the input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response received from the secure VPN device, and

wherein, upon selection of one of the input controls, the VPN network client formulates and outputs an appropriate request to the secure VPN device as if a corresponding one of the bookmark links within the web-based home page were selected by the user.

2. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the web-based home page comprises a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) web pages having a plurality of embedded HTML bookmark links,

wherein the secure response comprises an Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) response, and

wherein the VPN network client outputs the request to the secure VPN gateway as an HTTP string upon selection of one of the input controls.

3. The cellular mobile device of claim 1,

wherein the VPN network client processes the web-based home page to detect a bookmark embedded within the secure response that corresponding to a webmail for the user, and

wherein, upon detecting the bookmark for the webmail, the VPN network client dynamically constructs the user interface to have an input control for launching a native email client of the cellular mobile device to access the email without launching a web browser.

4. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, wherein the VPN network client renders the bookmark window to include graphical icons native to the device in place of the bookmark links.

5. The cellular mobile device of claim 1, further comprising:

an operating system executing on the microprocessor to provide an operating environment of application software,

wherein the VPN network client exchanges the network packets with the operating system to encrypt output network packets and decrypt inbound network packets.

6. The cellular mobile device of claim 2, wherein the VPN network client comprises a multi-service network client registered with the operating system as a single application,

wherein the multi-service network client comprises:

a VPN handler to exchange the network packets with the operating system;

a security manager to receive the decrypted network packets from the VPN handler and apply at least one security service to the decrypted network packets; and

a VPN control application that provides a unified user interface that allows a user to configure both the VPN handler and the security manager.

7. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the multi-service network client comprises a single distribution package.

8. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the VPN control application presents a unified user interface for configuring anti-virus settings and personal firewall settings of the security manager.

9. The cellular mobile device of claim 6,

wherein the security manager applies anti-virus and spyware services to the network packets,

wherein the security manager provides an interface by which the VPN handler determines whether a user of the cellular mobile device has activated and registered the security manager, and

wherein the VPN handler requires an affirmative indication from the security manager prior to establishing the VPN connection with the VPN gateway.

10. The cellular mobile device of claim 6,

wherein the VPN handler comprises a host checker module that inventories a state of the cellular mobile device and builds a health status report, and

wherein the host checker outputs the health status report to the VPN gateway prior to establishing the VPN connection for determining whether the cellular mobile device is compliant with corporate policies.

11. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the multi-service network client further comprises a data acceleration module that applies at least one acceleration service to the network packets from the VPN handler.

12. The cellular mobile device of claim 11, wherein the data acceleration module provides a local content cache.

13. The cellular mobile device of claim 11, wherein the data acceleration module provides a client-side decompression service that operates in conjunction with an upstream acceleration device to provide real-time, continuous pattern recognition and compression of data flows within the network packets.

14. The cellular mobile device of claim 11, wherein the data acceleration module provides application-specific protocol optimization for control flows within the network packets.

15. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the multi-service network client further comprises one or more collaboration components that process the packets from the VPN handler, wherein collaboration components provide collaboration services including at least one of a network meeting, a secure desktop or a document sharing service.

16. The cellular mobile device of claim 6,

wherein the VPN control application provides a user interface that allows a user to disable VPN connectivity, and

wherein, when VPN connectivity is disabled, the VPN handler exchanges the network packets with the operating system and transparently provides the packets to the security manager for application of the security service.

17. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the user interface of the VPN control applications allows the user to submit credentials and instruct the VPN handler to dynamically instantiate the secure VPN connection or deconstruct an existing VPN connection.

18. The cellular mobile device of claim 6, wherein the VPN handler and the VPN control application are configured to be independently upgradable.

19. The cellular mobile device of claim 6,

wherein the VPN handler establishes the VPN connection as an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) connection over User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and

wherein the VPN handler includes a compression module that applies Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression in conjunction with the IPSec connection to tunnel encrypted IP packets to the secure VPN gateway.

20. The cellular mobile device of claim 6,

wherein the VPN handler establishes an Secure Socket Layer (SSL) control channel with the secure VPN gateway and, upon a successful authentication, receives a session cookie with a unique identifier,

wherein, in the event communication with the secure VPN gateway is temporarily lost, the VPN handler performs a fast reconnect by issuing the session cookie to the secure VPN gateway, and

wherein, when performing the fast reconnect, the VPN handler identifies a set of transport mechanisms currently available to the cellular mobile device and, when only a cellular network is available and not a wireless packet-based connection, the VPN handler defers the fast reconnect until application-layer data is received from a user application and ready to be sent via the VPN connection.

21. A system comprising:

a virtual private network (VPN) security device coupled to a packet network;

a cellular mobile device comprising a microprocessor and a virtual private network (VPN) network client executing on the microprocessor to establish a VPN connection with the VPN security device,

wherein the VPN network client processes securely tunnels network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device,

wherein upon establishing the VPN connection the VPN network client receives a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response,

wherein the VPN network client dynamically parses bookmark links from the secure response and renders a bookmark window within a user interface to include input controls native to the cellular mobile device,

where the VPN network client renders the bookmark window so that each of the native input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response received from the secure VPN gateway, and

wherein, upon selection of one of the input controls, the VPN network client formulates and outputs an appropriate request to the secure VPN device as if a corresponding one of the bookmark links within the web-based home page were selected by the user.

22. The system of claim 21,

wherein the web-based home page comprises a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) web pages having a plurality of embedded HTML bookmark links,

wherein the secure response comprises an Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) response, and

wherein the VPN network client outputs the request to the secure VPN gateway as an HTTP string upon selection of one of the input controls.

23. A method comprising:

executing a VPN client on a processor of a cellular mobile device to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device and securely exchange network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device,

upon establishing the VPN connection, receiving a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response;

dynamically parsing bookmark links from the secure response with the VPN network client;

rendering a bookmark window of a user interface of the cellular mobile device with the VPN network client to include input controls native to the cellular mobile device without invoking a web browser on the cellular mobile device, where the VPN network client renders the bookmark window so that each of the native input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response received from the secure VPN gateway, and

upon selection of one of the input controls, outputting a request to the secure VPN device with the with the VPN network client as if a corresponding one of the bookmark links within the web-based home page were selected by the user.

24. A cellular mobile device comprising:

a transmitter and receiver to send and receive cellular communications in the form of radio frequency signals;

a microprocessor;

a virtual private network (VPN) network client executing on the microprocessor to establish a VPN connection with a remote VPN security device, wherein the VPN network client processes network packets for securely tunneling the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device,

wherein upon establishing the VPN connection the VPN network client receives a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response, and

wherein the VPN network client dynamically parses bookmark links from the secure response and renders a bookmark window using input controls native to the cellular mobile device without invoking a web browser on the cellular mobile device, where each of the input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response received from the secure VPN gateway.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a downloadable distribution package comprising software program code to execute a virtual private network (VPN) network client on a processor within a cellular device,

wherein the VPN network client is programmed to process network packets for securely tunneling the network packets between the cellular mobile device and the remote VPN security device,

wherein the VPN network client is programmed to receive a web-based home page from the secure VPN device via a secure response,

wherein the VPN network client is programmed to dynamically parse bookmark links from the secure response and render a bookmark window using input controls native to the cellular mobile device without invoking a web browser on the cellular mobile device, where each of the input controls corresponds to a different one of the bookmarks parsed from the secure response received from the secure VPN device, and

wherein the VPN network client is programmed to formulate and output an appropriate request to the secure VPN device upon selection of one of the input controls as if a corresponding one of the bookmark links within the web-based home page were selected by the user.