US Patent 7340770 System and methodology for providing community-based security policies

A system and methodology for providing community-based security policies is described. In one embodiment in a system comprising a plurality of devices connected to a network, a security module is provided for establishing security settings for regulating network access at these devices. Information is collected from at least some the devices about the security settings established on such devices and consensus security settings are generated based upon the collected information. In response to a request for network access at a particular device, determining whether or not to permit network access is based, at least in part, upon the consensus security settings.