Highly accurate security and filtering software

• US 8,972,590 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2003
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joshua Haghpassand
• Original Assignee: Kirsten Aldrich
• Inventors: Haghpassand, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Swearingen, Jeffrey R
• Application Number:
  US10/686,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20040073634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,157 Days
• Field of Search: 709224-227
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/14 for detecting or protecting against malicious traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A security software comprises administrative module for configuring access levels and creating types of accounts and application server for domain filtering by checking against friendly and unfriendly inbound, outbound and exception lists. Hard filtering either approves, terminates requests or re-routes request without the user'"'"'s knowledge. Soft filtering passes disapproved requests and sends an e-mail alert to authorized recipients. Content filtering includes checking a content of a requested document against a friendly, unfriendly list and exception list. Hard filtering passes or rejects the requested document. Soft filtering passes the requested document or rejects or approves by highlighting its content. Options include e-mail filtering that checks subject, sender'"'"'s address and domain against an unfriendly, friendly and exception list. e-mail alert for hard filtering, inbound privacy shield, a pop up blocker, the application server acts as proxy server with proxy chaining capabilities and an encryption function can encrypt part of e-mail message.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts;

accepting, by an administrative account, user inputs for configuring settings for inbound communications, outbound communications, or a combination of inbound and outbound communications;

using a domain filtering engine to either

check against at least one of (i) a friendly outbound list, and (ii) an unfriendly outbound list of a particular user account, and to check against at least one of (i) a friendly inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly inbound list, of a particular user account;

or to

check against at least one of (i) a friendly inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly inbound list, of the particular user account;

wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list of the particular user account includes using the domain filtering engine to check user requested web resources against at least one of said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list of the particular user account, wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account includes using the domain filtering engine to check an identity of a requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list, wherein said requesting client is at least one of an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) application and a web browser.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs using said domain filtering engine with an alert system for filtering.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs using said domain filtering engine with an outbound privacy shield to block disapproved strings for the particular user account representing confidential information without blocking strings that do not represent confidential information for the particular user account.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs automated scheduling, wherein said automated scheduling includes launching said security and filtering software automatically, deciding which particular user account to activate, and deciding when to shut off access to the world wide web for each particular user account.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said administrative module further comprises an encryption function that encrypts a user selected portion of an e-mail message.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein in the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers said encryption function generates one or more symmetric encryption keys, wherein said one or more symmetric encryption keys are uniquely associated with a text presented by a user of said encryption function.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers uses an application server;

wherein said application server acts either internally, externally, or both internally and externally to communicate with said domain filtering engine.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs:

using the domain filtering engine such that said application server acts externally within a deployment of a chain of proxy servers including at least a proxy server that receives a request from at least one requesting client and either (i) forwards said request to a last proxy server, or (ii) forwards said request through one or more intermediary proxy servers to said last proxy server;

wherein said last proxy server forwards said request to one or more servers;

wherein said last proxy server receives a server response from said one or more servers and either (a) forwards said server response to said first proxy server or (b) forwards said server response through one or more intermediary proxy servers to said first proxy server;

wherein said first proxy server forwards said server response to said at least one requesting client.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said application server act externally as a proxy server that receives requests from requesting clients, forwards said requests to servers, receives a server response from a server in response to forwarding said requests to said servers, and forwards said server response to said requesting clients.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said application server acts externally within a deployment of a chain of proxy servers including at least a first proxy server that receives requests from requesting clients, and either (i) forwards said requests to a last proxy server, or (ii) forwards said requests through one or more intermediary proxy servers to said last proxy server;

wherein said last proxy server forwards said requests to servers; and

wherein said last proxy server receives a server response and either (a) forwards said server response back to said first proxy server or (b) forwards said server response through one or more intermediary proxy servers back to said first proxy server, and

wherein said first proxy server forwards said server response to requesting clients.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said administrative module configure an automated configuration script file for accessing a global telecommunications network.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs at least one of (i) hard e-mail filtering in which an incoming e-mail is deleted from a user e-mail inbox and (ii) soft e-mail filtering in which an incoming e-mail remains in said user e-mail inbox but is inaccessible to a user of said user e-mail inbox.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs:

using a content filtering engine to conduct content filtering, including checking a content of a requested document against at least one of (i) a friendly content inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly content inbound list of a particular user account;

wherein if said content filtering involves hard filtering;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said unfriendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said friendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

wherein if said content filtering involves soft filtering;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account either (a) approving said content of said requested document and passing said requested document if said content is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account either (a) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if parts of said content are not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) passing said requested document if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document if parts of said content are not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document selected by a user of an administrator account if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also uses at least one of (i) a soft content exception list of the particular user account and (ii) a hard content exception list of the particular user account.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein in the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers when said content filtering engine performs at least one of soft filtering and hard filtering, said content filtering engine can replace a requested document that has been rejected with a replacement document selected by a user of an administrator account.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs including in said content filtering engine an inbound privacy shield for blocking scripting language functions for particular user accounts.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said domain filtering engine, with respect to both inbound and outbound requests for hard filtering, either approve said inbound or outbound requests, terminate said inbound or outbound requests, or re-route said inbound or outbound requests.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also uses said domain filtering engine, for requests that are terminated and re-routed, so that inbound communications are arranged so that an actual location of a highly sensitive resource is located in an unpublished replacement location;

and wherein said domain filtering engine re-routes requests rejected by said security and filtering software;

wherein identities of clients of approved users are listed in said unfriendly inbound list and said approved users are sent by said domain filtering engine to said unpublished replacement location, and

wherein identities of clients of unapproved users are not listed in said unfriendly inbound list and said unapproved users have requests sent to a published address that contains harmless information.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said domain filtering engine, with resect to both inbound and outbound requests for soft filtering, is used to pass disapproved requests.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein in the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers said domain filtering engine uses at least one of the following:

(a) a friendly domain outbound exception list of web resources of the particular user account,

(b) a friendly domain inbound exception list of client identities of said particular user account;

(c) an unfriendly domain outbound exception list of web resources of said particular user account; and

(d) an unfriendly domain inbound exception list of client identities of said particular user account;

wherein at least one of said friendly domain outbound exception list of web resources of said particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of client identities of said particular user account, said unfriendly domain outbound exception list of web resources of said particular user account, said unfriendly inbound exception list of client identities of said particular user account is uniquely configured for each user account.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs domain filtering by said domain filtering engine;

wherein said domain filtering includes checking an identity of a requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list of a particular user account;

wherein said domain filtering further includes checking said identity of said requesting client against said friendly domain inbound exception list and unfriendly domain inbound exception list of the particular user account.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs soft domain filtering by said domain filtering engine;

wherein for soft filtering, said domain filtering engine passes disapproved requests of a particular user unless overruled by said friendly domain outbound exception list of said particular user account, said unfriendly outbound exception list of said particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account or said unfriendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs sending an alert to authorized recipients regarding passing a particular disapproved request by a particular user.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs any of (i) having said domain filtering engine conduct hard domain filtering, wherein for hard filtering, said domain filtering engine rejects approved requests if overruled by said friendly domain outbound exception list of the particular user account, said unfriendly outbound exception list of the particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of the particular user account or said unfriendly domain inbound exception list of the particular user account, or (ii) having said domain filtering engine conduct hard domain filtering, wherein for hard filtering, said domain filtering engine approves rejected requests if overruled by said friendly domain outbound exception list of the particular user account, said unfriendly outbound exception list of the particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of the particular user account or said unfriendly domain inbound exception list of the particular user account.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said domain filtering engine conduct hard domain filtering;

wherein for hard filtering, said domain filtering engine either approve said request from said requesting client of the particular user account, terminate said request from said requesting client, or re-route said request from said requesting client.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said domain filtering engine conduct soft domain filtering;

wherein for soft filtering, said domain filtering engine rejects approved requests of a particular user when overruled by said friendly domain outbound exception list of said particular user account, said unfriendly outbound exception list of said particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account or said unfriendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs sending an alert to authorized recipients regarding passing a particular disapproved request by a particular user.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs soft domain filtering by said domain filtering engine;

wherein for soft filtering, said domain filtering engine rejects approved requests of a particular user when overruled by said friendly domain outbound exception list of said particular user account, said unfriendly outbound exception list of said particular user account, said friendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account or said unfriendly domain inbound exception list of said particular user account.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs using said domain filtering engine for soft domain filtering to pass disapproved requests of a particular user.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs sending an alert to authorized recipients regarding passing a particular disapproved request by a particular user.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs creating the administrative module so that said administrative module has list maintenance functions including at least one of list editing, list deleting, searching of lists, saving of lists, adding users and deleting users.

32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs creating, by said administrative module, multiple types of user accounts, wherein each of the said multiple types of user accounts requires one or more unique authentication credentials.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein said multiple types of user accounts include an anonymous quest user account, wherein the anonymous quest user account is for use by general users without valid authentication credentials.

34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credentials, prior to said security and filtering software checking an identity of at least one of (i) a requesting client and (ii) a requested resource.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, upon successfully authenticating said user'"'"'s one or more unique authentication credentials, using a configuration of said user'"'"'s account to check said identity of at least one of (i) said requesting client and (ii) said requested resource.

36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also uses said domain filtering engine to perform at least one of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to log in again if the software fails to authenticate said user, (ii) offer said user an opportunity to log in as an anonymous quest user if the software fails to authenticate said user, (iii) deny a request of said requesting client, or (iv) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credentials, prior to said security and filtering software checking identity information of at least one of (i) a requesting client and (ii) a requested resource.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, upon a successful authentication of said user'"'"'s identity by said security and filtering software, having said security and filtering software use said user'"'"'s account to either check said one or more identity attributes of said requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list of the particular user account or said unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, or to check said text of said requested URL against at least one of said friendly outbound list of the particular user account or said unfriendly outbound list of the particular user account.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having the domain filtering engine, if said security and filtering software fails to authenticate said user, do one or more of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to login again, (ii) deny said request from said requesting client, (iii) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources, and (iv) offer said user an opportunity to log in as an anonymous guest user.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 32, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, by said administrative module, at least one of (i) configuring said user accounts (ii) configuring said range of access levels for said user accounts, and (iii) configuring automated services.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credential, prior to said security and filtering software checking identity information of at least one of (i) a requesting client and (ii) a requested resource.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, upon successfully authenticating said user'"'"'s one or more unique authentication credentials, using a configuration of said user'"'"'s account to check said identity of at least one of (i) said requesting client and (ii) said requested resource.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having the domain filtering engine, if said security and filtering software fails to authenticate said user, do one or more of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to login again, (ii) deny said request from said requesting client, and (iii) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs creating, modifying and reading configuration settings by said administrative module;

wherein said administrative module stores said configuration settings in either memory, cache, encrypted files, plain text files, storage devices, computer storage media, or as web resources.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, by said administrative module, at least one of (i) automated services and (ii) user account configurations.

46. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having the domain filtering engine, for soft filtering, pass disapproved requests by a particular user.

47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs sending an alert to authorized recipients regarding passing a particular disapproved request by a particular user.

48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers utilizes an automated list updater that updates, from links on the web, at least one of said friendly inbound list of the particular user account, said unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, said friendly outbound list of the particular user account and said unfriendly outbound list of the particular user account.

49. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computer(s) also performs:

using the domain filtering engine such that at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is uniquely configured for each user account.

50. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts;

accepting, by an administrative account, user inputs for configuring settings for inbound communications, outbound communications, or a combination of inbound and outbound communications;

using a domain filtering engine to check against at least one of (i) a friendly domain inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly domain inbound list of a particular user account,

wherein the checking against said friendly domain inbound list and said unfriendly domain inbound list includes checking identity of a requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly domain inbound list,

wherein said requesting client is at least one of (i) an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) application and (ii) a web browser;

using a content filtering engine, during a web server response to a request for a web resource, to check a content of a requested document against at least one of (i) a friendly content inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly content inbound list for a particular user account;

wherein, if said content filtering involves hard filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said unfriendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said friendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

if said content filtering involves soft filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account either (a) approving said content of said requested document and passing said requested document if said content is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) passing said requested document if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account.

51. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs including in said content filtering engine an inbound privacy shield to block scripting language functions for particular user accounts.

52. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs using said content filtering engine, when performing at least one of soft filtering and hard filtering, either (i) to replace a requested document that has been rejected with a replacement document, (ii) to terminate said request from said requesting client, (iii) to pass said requested document, (iv) to approve the requested document and change the content of the requested document, (v) reject the request and change the content of the requested document or (vi) re-route said request from said requesting client.

53. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs at least one of (i) hard e-mail filtering for one or more particular user accounts in which an incoming e-mail is deleted from a user e-mail inbox and (ii) soft e-mail filtering in which an incoming e-mail remains in said user e-mail inbox but is inaccessible to a user of said user e-mail inbox.

54. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs soft e-mail filtering in which an incoming e-mail remains in an user e-mail inbox but is inaccessible to a user of said user e-mail inbox.

55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine use at least one of the following:

(a) an unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account;

(b) a friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account;

(c) an unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account; and

(d) a friendly soft content exception list of the particular user account;

wherein at least one of

said unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, the friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, the unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, and the friendly soft content exception list of the particular user account is uniquely configured for each user account.

56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine conduct hard filtering;

wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs any one of;

(i) said content filtering engine, against said unfriendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) passing said request document if said content of said requested document is not on said unfriendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document, unless overruled by said unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) rejecting said requested document, if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (d) passing said request document if said content of said requested document is not on said unfriendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, or (e) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (f) terminating said requested document, unless overruled by said unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (g) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (h) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document, unless overruled by said unfriendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

(ii) said content filtering engine, against said friendly hard content inbound list, either (a) passing said requested document, unless overruled by said friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document, unless overruled by said friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) passing said requested document, if said content of said requested document is on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account or (d) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (e) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, or (f) terminating said requested document, unless overruled by said friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, or (g) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account, or (h) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document, unless overruled by said friendly hard content exception list of the particular user account, if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly hard content inbound list of the particular user account.

57. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine perform soft filtering;

wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs any of;

(i) said content filtering engine, against said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) approving said content of said requested document and passing said requested document if said content is not on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (b) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) approving said content of said requested document and passing said requested document if said content is not on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, or (e) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (f) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document if said content is on said unfriendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account or (g) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (h) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account;

or

(ii) said content filtering engine, against said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) rejecting said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is not on said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said friendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (b) passing said requested document if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said friendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (c) rejecting said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document if said content is not on said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user, or (d) passing said requested document if said content is on said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, or (e) rejecting said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document if said content is not on said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said friendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (f) rejecting said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document if said content is not on said friendly soft content inbound list of the particular user, or (g) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, unless overruled by said unfriendly soft content exception list of the particular user account, or (h) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account.

58. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 57, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine, when performing at least one of soft filtering and hard filtering, replace a requested document that has been rejected with an altered document configured by a user of an administrator account.

59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performs e-mail filtering as part of content filtering;

wherein said e-mail filtering further checks at least one of (i) an e-mail subject, (ii) an e-mail sender'"'"'s address, and (iii) an e-mail sender'"'"'s domain against at least one of (a) an unfriendly e-mail list of the particular user account and (b) a friendly e-mail list of the particular user account.

60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 59, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers uses an e-mail exception list.

61. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 60, wherein said e-mail filtering further checks at least one of (i) said e-mail subject, (ii) said e-mail sender'"'"'s address and (iii) said e-mail sender'"'"'s domain against said unfriendly e-mail list, said friendly e-mail list, and an e-mail exception list of a particular user.

62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein said creating, by the administrative module that a user interacts with, of user accounts allows the creation of multiple types of user accounts, wherein each of said multiple types of user accounts requires one or more unique authentication credentials.

63. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credentials, prior to the execution of the software performing checking an identity of at least one of (i) a requesting client and (ii) a requested resource, wherein said requesting client is at least one of (i) a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) application and (ii) a web browser.

64. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 63, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers, also performs, upon successfully authenticating said user'"'"'s one or more unique authentication credentials, using a configuration of said users account to check said identity of at least one of (i) said requesting client and (ii) said requested resource.

65. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 63, wherein if said security and filtering software fails to authenticate said user, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also has said domain filtering engine perform at least of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to log in again, (ii) deny said requesting client'"'"'s request, or (iii) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources.

66. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said multiple types of user accounts include an anonymous guest user account, wherein the anonymous guest user account is for use by general users without valid authentication credentials.

67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 66, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credentials, prior to said security and filtering software checking identity information of the requesting client.

68. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 67, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, upon a successful authentication of said user'"'"'s identity by said security and filtering software, using said user'"'"'s account to check said one or more identity attributes of said requesting client against at least one of (i) said friendly inbound list of the particular user account or (ii) said unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account.

69. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 67, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said domain filtering engine, if said security and filtering software fails to authenticate said user, do one or more of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to login again, (ii) deny said request from said requesting client, (iii) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources, and (iv) offer said user an opportunity to log in as an anonymous guest user.

70. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 62, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs checking an identity of a user who presents one or more unique authentication credentials, prior to said security and filtering software checking identity information of the requesting client.

71. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 70, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs, upon a successful authentication of said user'"'"'s identity by said security and filtering software, using said user'"'"'s account to check said one or more identity attributes of said requesting client against at least one of (i) said friendly inbound list of the particular user account or (ii) said unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account.

72. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 70, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said domain filtering engine, if said security and filtering software fails to authenticate said user, do one or more of the following:

(i) offer said user an opportunity to login again, (ii) deny said request from said requesting client, and (iii) re-route said request from said requesting client to replacement resources.

73. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs

using an application server;

wherein said application server acts either internally, externally, or both internally and externally to communicate with either (i) said domain filtering engine or (ii) said content filtering engine; and

wherein said application server acts externally as a proxy server that receives requests from requesting clients, forwards said requests to servers, receives a server response from a server in response to forwarding said requests to said servers, and forwards said server response to said requesting clients.

74. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said soft content filtering engine highlight the content of the requested document if the content is on the friendly content inbound list of the particular user account.

75. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs including in said content filtering engine an inbound privacy shield to block scripting language functions for particular user accounts.

76. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine, when performing at least one of soft filtering and hard filtering, replace a requested document that has been rejected with a replacement document selected by a user of an administrator account.

77. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts;

accepting, by an administrative account, user inputs for configuring settings for inbound communications, outbound communications, or a combination of inbound and outbound communications;

using a domain filtering engine to either;

check against a friendly outbound list and an unfriendly outbound list of a particular user account, and check against a friendly inbound list and an unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, wherein only one of said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list is active at any given time, and wherein only one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is active at any given time;

or

check against a friendly inbound list and an unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, wherein only one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is active at any given time;

wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list includes using said domain filtering engine to check user requested web resources against at least one of said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list, wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list includes using said domain filtering engine to check an identity of a requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list, wherein said requesting client is at least one of an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) application and a web browser;

wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers uses an application server;

wherein said application server acts either internally, externally, or both internally and externally to communicate with said domain filtering engine.

78. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by the one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

using a domain filtering engine to either;

check against a friendly outbound list and an unfriendly outbound list of a particular user account, and check against a friendly inbound list and an unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, wherein only one of said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list is active at any given time, wherein only one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is active at any given time;

or

check against a friendly inbound list and an unfriendly inbound list of the particular user account, wherein only one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is active at any given time;

wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list of the particular user account includes using said domain filtering engine to check user requested web resources against said friendly outbound list and said unfriendly outbound list, wherein using said domain filtering engine to check against said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list includes using said domain filtering engine to check an identity of a requesting client against said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list, wherein said requesting client is at least one of an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) application and a web browser.

79. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 78, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts.

80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 78, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs:

using the domain filtering engine such that at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly inbound list is uniquely configured for each user account.

81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

using a domain filtering engine to check against at least one of (i) a friendly domain inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly domain inbound list of a particular user account, by checking identity information of a requesting client against at least one of said friendly inbound list and said unfriendly domain inbound list, wherein said requesting client is at least one of (i) an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) application and (ii) a web browser;

using a content filtering engine to check, during a web server response to a request for a web resource, a content of a requested document against at least one of (i) a friendly content inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly content inbound list, of a particular user account;

wherein, if said content filtering involves hard filtering, then;

when said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

when said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account is active, either (a) passing said requested document if said content of said requested document is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

if said content filtering involves soft filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the articular user account either (a) approving said content of said requested document and passing said requested document if said content is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document selected by a user of an administrator account if said content of said requested document is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing a remainder of said requested document, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) passing said requested document if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested document and passing an altered of said requested document, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested document and replacing it with a replacement document selected by a user of an administrator account if said content of said requested document is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account.

82. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 81, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts.

83. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 82, wherein at least one of said friendly content inbound list and said unfriendly content inbound list is uniquely configurable for each user account.

84. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 81, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and wherein said administrative module performs at least one of (i) configuring said user accounts (ii) configuring a range of access levels for said user accounts, and (iii) configuring automated services.

85. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 81, wherein the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers also performs having said content filtering engine, when performing at least one of soft filtering and hard filtering, replace a requested document that has been rejected with an altered document configured by a user of an administrator account.

86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

using a content filtering engine to check, during a web server response to a request for a web resource, a content of said requested web resource against at least one of (i) a friendly content inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly content inbound list, of a particular user account;

wherein, if said content filtering involves hard filtering, then;

when said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account is active, either (a) passing said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested resource if said content of said requested resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested web resource and replacing it with a replacement resource if said content of said requested web resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

when said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account is active, either (a) passing said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested web resource if said content of said requested resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested web resource and replacing it with a replacement resource if said content of said requested web resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

if said content filtering involves soft filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account either (a) approving said content of said requested web resource and passing said requested web resource if said content is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing a remainder of said requested web resource, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing an altered content of said requested web resource, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing a remainder of said requested web resource, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) passing said requested web resource if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said web resource and passing an altered content of said requested web resource, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account;

wherein the content filtering engine is configured to apply either hard content filtering or soft content filtering to a particular user account at a given time independent of a content of the requested web resource;

wherein, for hard content filtering, the requested web resource and the replacement web resource have different URLs.

87. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a security and filtering software, the software executed by one or more computers, the execution of the security and filtering software by the one or more computers performing:

creating, by an administrative module that a user interacts with, user accounts and configuring those user accounts;

using a content filtering engine, during a web server response to a request for a web resource, to check a content of said requested web resource against at least one of (i) a friendly content inbound list and (ii) an unfriendly content inbound list for a particular user account;

wherein, if said content filtering involves hard filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said unfriendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested resource if said content of said requested resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested resource and replacing it with a replacement resource if said content of said requested resource is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, at a given time that said friendly content inbound list is active, either (a) passing said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said requested web resource if said content of said requested web resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account and re-route said request from said requesting client, or (c) terminating said requested resource if said content of said requested resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, or (d) rejecting a requested resource and replacing it with a replacement resource if said content of said requested resource is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

if said content filtering involves soft filtering, then;

in regard to said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account either (a) approving said content of said requested web resource and passing said requested web resource if said content is not on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing a remainder of said requested web resource if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing an altered content of said requested web resource, if said content is on said unfriendly content inbound list of the particular user account; and

in regard to said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account, either (a) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing a remainder of said requested web resource, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (b) passing said requested web resource if said content is on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account or (c) rejecting said content of said requested web resource and passing an altered content of said requested web resource, if said content is not on said friendly content inbound list of the particular user account;

wherein, the content filtering engine is configured to apply either hard content filtering or soft content filtering at a given time independent of a content of the requested web resource;

wherein, for hard content filtering, the requested web resource and the replacement web resource have different URLs.