A communication network, comprising: a common control plane circuitry configured to provide a mobility management function and an authentication function; one or more dedicated control plane circuitries (114, 116), each dedicated control plane circuitry (114, 116) configured to provide a respective session management function (110, 112); wherein the authentication function is configured to authenticate a communication terminal and to generate a first key for the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function is configured to provide a cryptographically secured non-access stratum connection with the authenticated communication terminal using the generated first key in response to a first request message, preferably an attach request message, sent by the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function further is configured to select at least one session management function (110, 112) in response to a second request message, preferably a packet data network connectivity request message, sent by the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function further is configured to request the authentication function to authenticate the communication terminal and generate a respective second key for each selected session management function (110, 112) prior to forwarding the second request message to each selected session management function (110, 112); wherein the mobility management function further is configured to forward the second request message with the respective second key to each selected session management function (110, 112); and wherein each session management function (110, 112) is configured to provide a cryptographically secured non-access stratum connection (402, 502) with the authenticated communication terminal using the respective second key. a common control plane circuitry configured to provide a mobility management function and an authentication function; one or more dedicated control plane circuitries (114, 116), each dedicated control plane circuitry (114, 116) configured to provide a respective session management function (110, 112); wherein the authentication function is configured to authenticate a communication terminal and to generate a first key for the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function is configured to provide a cryptographically secured non-access stratum connection with the authenticated communication terminal using the generated first key in response to a first request message, preferably an attach request message, sent by the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function further is configured to select at least one session management function (110, 112) in response to a second request message, preferably a packet data network connectivity request message, sent by the communication terminal; wherein the mobility management function further is configured to request the authentication function to authenticate the communication terminal and generate a respective second key for each selected session management function (110, 112) prior to forwarding the second request message to each selected session management function (110, 112); wherein the mobility management function further is configured to forward the second request message with the respective second key to each selected session management function (110, 112); and wherein each session management function (110, 112) is configured to provide a cryptographically secured non-access stratum connection (402, 502) with the authenticated communication terminal using the respective second key.