Patent ID: 7661128

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving in a user computer a certificate from a virtual private network (VPN) server; establishing a first secure connection between the user computer and the VPN server using a Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol based on the certificate provided by the VPN server; in the user computer, receiving over the first secure connection from the VPN server a login credential including a username and a password to login to the VPN server, the username and the password having been generated by the VPN server and without any identifying information provided to the VPN server; calculating a secret encryption key based on the username and the password; establishing a second secure connection with the VPN server using a Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) tunnel based on the username and the password and the secret encryption key; logging in to the VPN server over the second secure connection using the username and the password; and maintaining the second secure connection indefinitely, even after the login credential expires.