Patent ID: 7529925

Claim:
A system comprising: a first authenticator using an encryption key to ensure secure network communication; a second authenticator using the encryption key to ensure secure network communication; and a server coupled to the first authenticator and the second authenticator wherein the server distributes, to the first authenticator and the second authenticator, information to extract the encryption key from messages that a client sends to the first authenticator and the second authenticator; a client-generated first key that the client uses to encrypt the encryption key when the client sends a first message to the first authenticator, wherein the first message is sent before the messages sent by the client; and a second key that the server and the client share, wherein the server uses the second key to decrypt and extract the portion of the first message comprising the first key and the identity of the first authenticator, wherein the portion of the first message comprising the first key and the identity of the first authenticator is encrypted with both the first key and the second key.