Patent ID: 11882029
Assignee: JUNIPER NETWORKS, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method, comprising:
exchanging, by an ingress network device of a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, Internet key exchange (IKE) messages with an egress network device of the MPLS network to establish a security association between the ingress network device and the egress network device;
receiving, by the ingress network device, a packet destined for a destination network device;
determining, by the ingress network device and based on the packet, a secure function to secure the packet and a label associated with a label-switched path (LSP) from the ingress network device to the egress network device, the egress network device being associated with the destination network device;
encrypting, by the ingress network device and using the secure function, the packet to generate an encrypted packet;
generating, by the ingress network, an MPLS packet comprising:
an MPLS header that includes the label and a secure function indicator,
a secure MPLS data header that includes information identifying the secure function, and
an MPLS payload that includes the encrypted packet; and

forwarding, by the ingress network device and based on the label, the MPLS packet.