Patent ID: 8589683

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, by a processing device, a request from a client computing system for establishing a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) connection; determining, by the processing device, whether the request indicates an encryption scheme; in response to a determination that the request indicates the encryption scheme, the processing device providing the client computing system a first set of authentication mechanisms for a subsequent authentication process; in response to a determination that the request does not specify the encryption scheme, the processing device providing the client computing system a second set of authentication mechanisms for the subsequent authentication process, wherein the second set contains fewer authentication mechanisms than the first set; performing, by the processing device, the subsequent authentication process via a authentication mechanism selected from the set provided to the client computing system; sending a result check message to the client computing system to indicate that the VNC connection has been successfully authenticated; and exchanging encoded messages with the client computing system using a negotiated security layer with a negotiated security strength.