Patent ID: 8336108

Claim:
A method for authenticating network nodes in a communications network comprising: observing, by a trusted node of a first host computing device, network behavior of one or more network nodes, wherein the trusted node is one of a plurality of nodes that have been authenticated in the communications network; determining, by the trusted node of the first host computing device, if a network node under observation is a trusted peer or an untrusted host, the network node under observation being hosted by a second host computing device or being a virtual node hosted by the first host computing device; causing at least one of other trusted nodes that does not have a collaboration module to receive the collaboration module; when the network node under observation is an untrusted host, communicating, by the trusted node of the first host computing device, observations about a network behavior of the network node under observation in the communications network with the administration console; and collaborating with the other trusted nodes within the communications network to address the network behavior of the network node under observation and determine whether the network node under observation is to be re-classified as a trusted node.