US 7913303

Patent Overview: US 7,913,303 B1

Title: Method and system for dynamically protecting a computer system from attack

Patent number: US 7,913,303 B1
Application number: US10/400,938
Filing date: 2003-03-27
Priority date (as listed): 2003-01-21
Publication/grant date: 2011-03-22
Inventor(s): Christopher Jay Rouland; Patrick Morton Becker; Christopher W. Klaus
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee (per listing): Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Status: Active; adjusted expiration listed as 2030-07-02

Purpose. The patent describes a "dynamic protection system" (DPS) that provides real-time protection for computer systems, networks, and hosts against attacks delivered over a distributed computer network such as the Internet. The excerpt identifies typical attacks as computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, and also references flooding attacks such as the "Smurf attack."

Plain-language scope. The DPS receives a data packet, determines whether to block that packet from passing into the system, network, or host, and if blocking is chosen, selects how to block it. Two blocking modes are described:

• Passive blocking — typically at system and network levels; the DPS can send a reset packet to the intruder, the sender, or the recipient, informing the receiver that the connection has been severed.
• Active blocking — typically at host and in-line networking levels; the DPS retrieves information about the intruder or receiving party (such as a network address, internet protocol port, protocol code, or protocol type), adds it to a blocking instruction, and applies that instruction to the data.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7913303/en

What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text is explicitly an excerpt with omitted portions. It does not provide the full claims, the complete detailed description, the drawings, the full list of cited prior-art references, or the precise legal scope of any claim. Legal status, ownership changes, validity, and prior-art comparisons are not established here and were not researched.