US Patent 8700771 System and method for caching access rights

Systems and methods for caching information related to access rights are provided. The access rights may be rules stored in an access control list. The cache may include packet parameters against which packets in a data flow are matched to determine if a match is possible from the cache. If a match is possible, a corresponding rule is applied to the packet. If a match is not found in the cache, the access control list may be searched for a corresponding rule. The rule from the access control list may be populated into the cache when a match is found in the access control list.