METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SETTING UP A FIREWALL

摘要

The home gateway HGW (1) includes a communication section (31), an authentication function section (32), a directory management function section (33), and a communication path setting function section (34). The communication section (31) receives data transmitted to the HGW (1). The authentication function section (32) authenticates the aforementioned data to be from an authorized user or not. Responsive to a service registration, the directory management function section (33) registers service information, checks the matching between the service information and service permission policies, and requests the communication path setting function section (34) to set a communication path. The communication path setting function section (34) monitors the state of data communication along the communication paths, and closes any unnecessary communication paths that may have been set. As a result, it becomes possible to restrict the users who are entitled to accessing each terminal on an internal network from an external network, and to allow a user to access a selected terminal on an internal network.