Patent ID: 7673146

Claim:
A method, comprising exchanging, as part of a network node authentication process, access control parameters that define a network node's ability to access other resources accessible through a computer network, wherein exchanging the access control parameters includes transmitting a MAC address of an access point through which the network node will access the computer network in an authentication message to an authentication server to uniquely identify the access point to the authentication server; wherein the access control parameters are selected from a list of possible rule sets during the network node authentication process; wherein the access control parameters are provided to the access point only upon successful verification of the network node's credentials by the authentication server; wherein exchanging the access control parameters further includes transmitting a MAC address of the network node for authentication by the authentication server; wherein the network node authentication process includes the network node and the authentication server identifying themselves to one another using digital certificates; wherein the network node authentication process requires the network node and the authentication server to be authenticated using a password; wherein the access control parameters are assigned on a per-user basis; wherein the access control parameters comprise rules for handling packets; wherein a software application executing on the network node is configured to add the network node's and the access point's MAC addresses to a username to be used for authentication by the authentication server.