Patent ID: 8615655

Claim:
A method for packet tagging, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining, by a sender module, a sender identity for a sender of said IP packet, upon sending an internet-protocol (IP) packet; tagging, by said sender module, said IP packet with said sender identity, to enable a receiver to authenticate the sender identity after receiving said IP packet, wherein said IP packet includes a plurality of fixed-length fields, wherein two of said fixed-length fields are concatenated into a single fixed-length virtual field, wherein said virtual field is shared between a cryptographic hash and an identity index for supporting multiple distinct identities residing on an IP endpoint, and wherein tagging is performed using an identification field and a time-to-live (TTL) field; and prior to said step of tagging, dynamically partitioning, by said sender module, said virtual field between said cryptographic hash and said identity index, to support a dynamically changing number of said multiple distinct identities for said IP endpoint, wherein said dynamically changing number differs among a plurality of IP endpoints, and wherein the said partitioning is effected in response to a change in a number of multiple distinct identities.