Patent ID: 8176327

Claim:
A method comprising: sending a dummy authentication challenge from an authenticator to an access terminal; receiving, at the authenticator, a first return message from the access terminal that includes an identifier of the access terminal and a response to the dummy challenge; receiving, at the authenticator, a second packet from an authentication server, the second packet including a second authentication challenge, the second packet complying with a second authentication protocol in which the identifier of the access terminal is required for determining authentication challenges sent to the access terminal; sending a first packet including the second authentication challenge from the authenticator to the access terminal, the second authentication challenge being determined based in part on the identifier of the access terminal previously received along with the response to the dummy challenge, the first packet complying with a first authentication protocol in which the identifier of the access terminal is not required for determining authentication challenges sent to the access terminal; and receiving, at the authenticator, a second return message from the access terminal that includes a response to the second authentication challenge; wherein the first authentication protocol comprises Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) and the second authentication protocol comprises IKEv2 Extensible Authentication Protocol-Message Digest 5 (EAP-MD5).