SYSTEM FOR AND METHOD OF SECURING A NETWORK UTILIZING CREDENTIALS

• US 20160028691A1
• Filed: 10/01/2015
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Keith, Robert O. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,584,480 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/663 Transport layer addresses, e.g. aspects of transmission control protocol [TCP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] ports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/27 Evaluation or update of window size, e.g. using information derived from acknowledged [ACK] packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0254 Stateful filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks

Abstract

A system for and method of securing a network are described herein. A receiving device listens for packets with proper credentials. If a transmitting device sends the correct credentials, the receiving device will respond with an acknowledgment and further data is able to be transmitted. However, if the transmitting device does not send a packet with the proper credentials, then the receiving device will drop the packet and not respond. Thus, the transmitting device will be unaware of the presence of the receiving device, in particular when hackers are using scanning software to locate target devices.

Claims

1. A computing device for increasing network security, the computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the computing device to perform at least the following;

receive an initial packet from an other computing device;

verify the initial packet for a proper credential;

when the proper credential is not verified, drop the initial packet; and

when the proper credential is verified;

send an acknowledgment to the other computing device only; and

receive one or more subsequent packets from the other computing device without verifying that the subsequent packets have a proper credential,

wherein the verification of the initial packet is performed independent of whether a device identifier or a user identifier of the other computing device is recognized by the computing device.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a client and the other computing device is a server.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a server and the other device is a client.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the proper credential is included in a wrapper around the initial packet.

5. The computing device of claim 4, wherein the proper credential is included in a header of the wrapper.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein a protocol for receiving the initial packet is User Datagram Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein a protocol for sending the acknowledgment is Transmission Control Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device and the other computing device are coupled by the Internet.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device and the other computing device are coupled by an intranet.

10. A computing device for increasing network security, the computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the computing device to perform at least the following;

transmit an initial packet to an other computing device, the initial packet including a credential;

receive an acknowledgment from the other computing device only when the other computing device has verified the initial packet for a proper credential, verification of the initial packet being performed by the other computing device independent of whether a device identifier or a user identifier of the computing device is recognized by the other computing device; and

based on receiving the acknowledgment from the other computing device, transmit one or more subsequent packets to the other computing device without verifying whether the one or more subsequent packets include a proper credential.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device is a client and the other computing device is a server.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device is a server and the other computing device is a client.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein a protocol for receiving the initial packet is User Datagram Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein a protocol for sending the acknowledgment is Transmission Control Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.

15. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device and the other computing device are coupled by the Internet.

16. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device and the other computing device are coupled by an intranet.

17. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the credential is included in a wrapper around the initial packet.

18. A method, implemented at a computing device that includes one or more processors, for increasing network security, the method comprising:

receiving an initial packet from an other computing device;

verifying the initial packet for a proper credential;

when the proper credential is not verified, dropping the initial packet; and

when the proper credential is verified;

sending an acknowledgment to the other computing device only; and

receiving one or more subsequent packets from the other computing device without verifying that the subsequent packets have a proper credential,

wherein the verification of the initial packet is performed independent of whether a device identifier or a user identifier of the other computing device is recognized by the computing device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein a protocol for receiving the initial packet is User Datagram Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein a protocol for sending the acknowledgment is Transmission Control Protocol or any functionally equivalent protocol.