GENERIC PROTOCOL DECODER FOR GENERIC APPLICATION-LEVEL PROTOCOL SIGNATURES.

Described is a generic protocol decoder that analyzes network traffic or file data to look for a signature, and signals an intrusion prevention mechanism/system if the signature is matched. In one aspect, the generic decoder is built using generic application-level protocol analysis language (GAPAL) primitives. These primitives provide various capabilities, including pattern matching, skipping, reading data, copying variable data and comparing data. The generic decoder may be coupled to a pre-developed protocol parser that provides the decoder with the data to analyze.