US Patent 9369434 Whitelist-based network switch

A whitelist-based network switch defines a whitelist and a handling rule based on an access control list, security policies, etc., and monitors and blocks network traffic based on the whitelist and the handling rule. The whitelist-based network switch includes a whitelist monitoring unit for storing a whitelist including permitted communication rules, monitoring one or more packets input through a plurality of switch interfaces based on the whitelist, and permitting communication of each packet conforming to the whitelist, and a whitelist management unit for updating the whitelist and transmitting an updated whitelist to the whitelist monitoring unit.