A system and method for managing data transfers between client computers and a computer network. Each client comprises a data transfer controller and at least two data transfer rules. The data transfer controller associates each of at least two connection states with one of the data transfer rules. The data transfer controller also detects a connection state of a client device, applies a first data transfer rule to the client device in response to detecting a first connection state, and applies a second data transfer rule to the client device in response to detecting a second connection state. In a further embodiment, the data transfer controller associates a data transfer policy with attributes of a connection between the client device and the computer network, wherein a connection state comprises a set of values of the attributes of the connection.