Patent ID: 8484705

Claim:
A method for installing authentication credentials on a remote network device, comprising: connecting the remote network device with invalid authentication credentials to a port of an authenticating network switch, wherein authentication protocols of the port are enabled; identifying a failed authentication attempt for the remote network device after an attempt to connect the remote network device to the port of the authentication network switch using the invalid authentication credentials; monitoring by a Network Access Control (NAC) credential service the failed authentication attempt for a first remote device identifier to determine if the remote network device should be authenticated; receiving, by the NAC credential service, the first remote device identifier from the remote network device using a network; validating, by comparing, the first remote device identifier against a listing of previously stored remote device identifiers using the NAC credential service; disabling the authentication protocols of the port using the NAC credential service in response to validating the first remote device identifier; and installing authentication credentials on the remote network device with the NAC credential service using encrypted data.