US Patent 7769994 Content inspection in secure networks

A secure access system is used to connect an internal network, such as a private LAN, to an external network, such as the Internet. The system is provided with internal and external gateways, for connecting to the respective networks, as well as an inspection evaluator, content inspector, internal certificate authority, internal SSL terminator and external SSL initiator. Packets routed through the access system are inspected before they are forwarded from one gateway to the other, except those packets of designated users of the internal network which are directly forwarded without inspection. Encrypted packets received by the access system are decrypted, inspected, and then re-encrypted before they are forwarded.