Patent ID: 7774602

Claim:
A system comprising: an authentication server, a client and an access controller interconnectable for communications therebetween; said access controller including a plurality of ports each connectable to a respective one of a plurality of computers; said authentication server operable to deliver a given first key from among a plurality of first keys to said client; said access controller operable to store a plurality of second keys each of which is complementary to a respective one of said first keys for encrypting at least a portion of communications between said client and said controller; said access controller operable to associate each of said second keys with a respective one of said ports; said access controller further operable to receive, from said client, instructions and an indication of a specified one of the ports and to pass said instructions to the computer connected to the specified one of the ports according to a verification protocol utilizing the second key associated with the specified one of the ports and the given first key, wherein said verification protocol includes a generation of a random number by said client, an encryption of said random number by said client using said given first key, a delivery of said random number and said encrypted random number from said client to said access controller, a decryption of said encrypted number by said access controller using the second key associated with specified one of the ports, a comparison of said random number and said decrypted number, and a decision to pass at least a portion of said instructions to the computer connected to the specified one of the ports via the specified one of the ports when said comparison finds a match of said random number with said decrypted number.