1. A cooperative processing and escalation method for application-layer security comprising the steps of: defining escalating operational modes at a plurality of receiving security nodes including standby, passive and active modes, and at a same single security node: identifying a security violation, matching said security violation to one or more escalation rule(s) of a pre-defined set of escalation rules, wherein said matched escalation rule(s) determine how said single security node responds to said security violation including whether to transmit or receive an escalation trigger or both, creating said escalation trigger associated with said matched escalation rule(s), wherein said escalation trigger instructs said plurality of receiving security nodes to activate one of said escalating operational modes, and transmitting said escalation trigger to said plurality of receiving security nodes.