Network connection-independent updating system and method

• US 8,140,642 B1
• Filed: 05/17/2002
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Kadam, Sunil S., Fu, Tianying, Bacus, Mike Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Application Number:
  US10/150,608
• Time in Patent Office: 3,595 Days
• Field of Search: 709202-203, 709217-222, 709227-228, 709/250, 717/168, 717/171, 717/176, 717/172, 717/177
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product are provided for communicating over a network without a direct connection to the network. A process is first initiated on a first computer without a direct connection to a network. In response to the process, a second computer coupled to the first computer with a direct connection to the network is automatically identified. Data is then communicated between the first computer and a server computer over the network via the direct connection of the second computer.

Claims

1. A method for providing updates to a computer, comprising:

initiating a process on a first computer, the first computer having a connection to a local subnet;

determining if the first computer is directly connected to an external network in response to the initiation of the process;

sending data, by the first computer, to a server computer over the external network if the first computer is determined to have a direct connection to the external network, wherein the act of sending data includes parsing a URL to generate a modified URL, and wherein the act of generating a modified URL includes converting the URL from a first protocol to a second protocol;

automatically attempting to identify, by the first computer, a second computer connected to the local subnet having a direct connection to the external network if the first computer is determined not to have a direct connection to the external network, wherein the act of attempting to identify the second computer includes broadcasting a connection lookup request to each of a plurality of computers connected to the local subnet;

sending data, by the first computer, to the server computer over the external network via the direct connection of the second computer if the first computer identifies the second computer as having a direct connection to the external network; and

displaying, by the first computer, an error message on the first computer if none of the plurality of computers connected to the local subnet responds to the connection lookup request within a specified time period,

wherein the process includes an update process for updating at least one aspect of the first computer with at least one of software and data that is communicated between the first computer and the server computer.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the update process updates data on the first computer.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the update process updates an application program on the first computer.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the application program includes a security application program.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the security application program is used to simulate an attack on the first computer, test computer passwords on the first computer, identify at least one vulnerability of the first computer, scan executable files on the first computer, scan application macro files on the first computer, and scan disk boot sectors on the first computer.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the process requires communication over the external network.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of computers are adapted for load balancing a plurality of the connection lookup requests.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the load balancing includes the second computer determining a time out period in response to each of the connection lookup requests.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the second computer sends a response to each of the plurality of connection lookup requests after the expiration of the time out period for allowing data to be communicated between the first computer and the server computer via the second computer.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the first computer broadcasts a termination request to each of the plurality of computers connected to the local subnet upon the receipt of the response from at least one of the plurality of computers.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the second computer is adapted for not sending the response to the connection lookup request if the termination request is received prior to the expiration of the time out period.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the time out period determined by the second computer is varied based on a load of the second computer.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data is communicated by connecting to the modified URL.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the data is communicated via a network browser.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the browser operates independent of the modified URL.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data is communicated by determining if the data must be parsed.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the data is communicated by parsing the data if it is determined that the data must be parsed.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein parsing the data includes changing all references of the second protocol to the first protocol.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein after parsing the data, the data is saved to a cache file and a browser is notified by the first protocol that the data is available.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first computer uploads information about properties and events thereof prior to the update process.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the properties include client system data, unique identifying information, current configuration, and installed software.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the events include virus detections and agent attempts to connect to the network.

23. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first protocol includes a predetermined protocol and the second protocol includes a http protocol.

24. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for initiating a process on a first computer, the first computer having a connection to a local subnet;

computer code for determining if the first computer is directly connected to an external network in response to the initiation of the process;

computer code for sending data, by the first computer, to a server computer over the external network if the first computer is determined to have a direct connection to the external network, wherein the act of sending data includes parsing a URL to generate a modified URL, and wherein the act of generating a modified URL includes converting the URL from a first protocol to a second protocol;

computer code for automatically attempting to identify, by the first computer, a second computer connected to the local subnet having a direct connection to the external network if the first computer is determined not to have a direct connection to the external network, wherein the act of attempting to identify the second computer includes broadcasting a connection lookup request to each of a plurality of computers connected to the local subnet;

computer code for sending data, by the first computer, to the server computer over the external network via the direct connection of the second computer if the first computer identifies the second computer as having a direct connection to the external network; and

computer code for displaying, by the first computer, an error message on the first computer if none of the plurality of computers connected to the local subnet responds to the connection lookup request within a specified time period,

wherein the process includes an update process for updating at least one aspect of the first computer with at least one of software and data that is communicated between the first computer and the server computer.

25. A method for providing updates to a computer, comprising:

automatically determining whether a first computer has a direct connection to a network;

sending data from the first computer to a server computer over the network if it is determined that the first computer has the direct connection to the network;

automatically broadcasting an initiation request from the first computer to a plurality of computers connected thereto if it is determined that the first computer does not have the direct connection to the network;

receiving a response to the initiation request at the first computer from a second computer, the second computer being one of the plurality of computers connected to the first computer, wherein the response is received after a time out period;

broadcasting a termination request to the plurality of computers connected thereto upon receiving the response at the first computer; and

establishing communication between the first computer and the server computer over the network via the direct connection of the second computer by the following operations at the first computer;

parsing a uniform resource locator (URL) for generating a modified URL,

connecting to the modified URL,

creating a cache file utilizing a network browser,

communicating data with the server computer via the modified URL,

determining if the data must be parsed,

parsing the data if it is determined that the data must be parsed, and

displaying the data on the network browser,

wherein at least one aspect of the first computer is updated with at least one of software and the data that is communicated between the first computer and the server computer,

wherein generating the modified URL includes converting the URL from a first protocol to a second protocol.