Patent ID: 8769654

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first communications interface configured to communicatively couple to a network plug of a network cable; a second communications interface configured to communicatively couple to a network host device, the second communications interface being constructed and arranged to mount into an opening of the network host device, the network host device being constructed and arranged to receive and mount a standard small form-factor pluggable module in the opening; a microcontroller, the microcontroller being configured to perform transceiver functions between the first communications interface and the second communications interface; and authentication circuitry, the authentication circuitry being communicatively coupled with the microcontroller and the second communications interface, wherein, the authentication circuitry is configured to: determine whether the second communication interface is coupled to a legacy network host device or a smart network host device; provide contents of a magic code cookie to the network host device when the second communications interface is communicatively coupled to a legacy network host device; and perform a smart authentication procedure with the network host device when the second communications interface is communicatively coupled to a smart network host device, the smart authentication procedure utilizing a unique signature according to a time-based algorithm.