QUARANTINING PACKETS RECEIVED AT DEVICE IN NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS UTILIZING VIRTUAL NETWORK CONNECTION

• US 20120272315A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dispersive Holdings Incorporated (Dispersive Networks, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dispersive Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Twitchell, Robert W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,959,627 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/17 Interaction among intermediate nodes, e.g. hop by hop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/06 Message adaptation to terminal or network requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of engaging in network communications by a device includes spawning a first virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of a device; receiving a packet communicated from a transmitting device at the first virtual machine of the device; determining that the packet is corrupted, said determination being based on information from an application running on the device; in response to said step of determining that the packet is corrupted, quarantining the packet; spawning a second virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of the device; and communicating, using the second virtual machine, a message to the transmitting device.

Claims

1. A method of engaging in network communications by a device, comprising the steps of:

(a) spawning a first virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of a device;

(b) receiving a packet communicated from a transmitting device at the first virtual machine of the device;

(c) determining that the packet is corrupted, said determination being based on information from an application running on the device;

(d) in response to said step of determining that the packet is corrupted, quarantining the packet;

(e) spawning a second virtual machine for a network connection that virtualizes network capabilities of the device; and

(f) communicating, using the second virtual machine, a message to the transmitting device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is spawned in response to a request for a network connection from the application running on the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining that the packet is corrupted comprises running a hashing algorithm on the packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of spawning a second virtual machine for a network connection is effected in response to the determination that the packet is corrupted.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual machine, a message to the transmitting device, comprises communicating that a tampered-with packet was received.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual machine, a message to the transmitting device comprises communicating, to the transmitting device, an instruction to utilize a new connection for communication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes a step of communicating information associated with the corrupted packet to another device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes a step of selecting a routing protocol for from among a plurality of available routing protocols for communicating data using virtualized network capabilities of the device, and wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual machine, with the transmitting device comprises communicating using the selected routing protocol.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of available routing protocols includes the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and the Constrained Shortest Path First (CSPF) protocol.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual machine, with the transmitting device comprises selecting an initial node to which to transmit for communication with the transmitting device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of selecting an initial node comprises selecting an initial node based at least partially on network information stored at the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further includes a step of querying one or more nodes of a network for the network information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further includes receiving the network information from the one or more nodes and generating a routing table based on the network information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual machine, with the transmitting device comprises communicating with the transmitting device over a second network path, the second network path being different from a first network path by which the packet was communicated.

15. A method of responding to a corrupted packet comprising:

(a) receiving a packet communicated from a transmitting device via a first virtual network connection of the device;

(b) determining that the packet is corrupted, said determination being based on information from an application running on the device;

(c) in response to said step of determining that the packet is corrupted, quarantining the corrupted packet; and

(d) communicating, using a second virtual network connection, a message to the transmitting device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the device comprises a computer.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the device comprises a mobile phone.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of communicating, using the second virtual network connection, with the transmitting device comprises communicating with the transmitting device over a second network path, the second network path being different from a first network path by which the packet was communicated.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the application is a computer game.

20. A device, the device comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) one or more network adapters providing network capabilities;

(c) one or more computer readable media containing computer executable instructions configured to;

(i) receive a packet communicated from a transmitting device via a first virtual network connection of the device;

(ii) determine that the packet is corrupted, said determination being based on information from an application running on the device;

(iii) in response to said step of determining that the packet is corrupted, quarantine the packet; and

(iv) communicate, using a second virtual network connection, a message to the transmitting device.