Reverse HTTP tunneling for firewall traversal

This thesis describes a reverse hypertext tunneling protocol that allows a web browser from outside a firewall to access a web server inside a firewall. Reverse HTTP utilizes pre-existing proxy services to create a transparent and scalable method to tunnel through a firewall. Reverse HTTP provides an excellent solution to the problem of providing controlled access to firewall protected resources. This is because unlike traditional firewall traversal methods, reverse HTTP is completely software based and requires no changes to the existing firewall configuration. Reverse HTTP works because it tunnels traffic in a form which a web proxy server on the firewall allows to pass. A Java software implementation has been developed and tested to demonstrate the usefulness and efficacy of the reverse HTTP protocol. This experimental implementation proves that a portable, scalable solution can be developed with comparable performance characteristics to a normal web proxy. Although the implementation can be used to view protected web sites, it does not compromise the overall network security.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Sit, Eric N., 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hari Balakrishnan.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/9086

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/9086