Patent ID: 7644437

Claim:
A method for segregating network traffic amongst a plurality of end stations in communication with a network device, the method comprising steps of: said network device receiving from an end station a request to create a personal VLAN at said network device; said network device receiving from one or more end stations requests to join said personal VLAN as members thereof; and said network device authenticating said requests to join said personal VLAN, wherein said personal VLAN is a personal virtual bridged local area network; said network device authenticating an origin of network traffic using a security association shared among members of said personal VLAN, comprising: receiving a frame from the end station; identifying a cryptographic authentication code key based on data contained in the frame; computing a re-computed cryptographic authentication code over at least a portion of a payload of the frame using the cryptographic authentication code key; and comparing the re-computed cryptographic authentication code with a received cryptographic authentication code associated with the frame.