Pre-shared secret key capabilities in secure MAC layer communication protocols

A method for a second computing node to configure for communication with a first computing node according to a secure Media Access Control (MAC) layer communication protocol, comprising:

• receiving a first message, from the first computing node by the second computing node;
• identifying, from a portion of the first message, a first indication that the first computing node is capable of utilizing a pre-shared secret key that is used to at least one of encrypt or decrypt communications according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol;
• by the second computing node, transmitting a second message to the first computing node, the second message including at least a second indication that the second computing node is capable of utilizing the pre-shared secret key to communicate according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol;
• receiving a third message, from the first computing node by the second computing node;
• identifying, from a portion of the third message, a type of an identifier associated with the pre-shared secret key;
• by the second computing node, determining that the second computing node can use the identifier associated with the pre-shared secret key;
• by the second computing node, transmitting a fourth message to the first computing node, the fourth message including at least a third indication that the second computing node can use the identifier;
• retrieving, by the second computing node, the pre-shared secret key based in part on the determining;
• and
• by the second computing node, receiving a fifth message from the first computing node according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol and using the pre-shared secret key to decrypt the fifth message.

A method for a second computing node to configure for communication with a first computing node according to a secure Media Access Layer (MAC) layer communication protocol, comprising:

• receiving a first message, from the first computing node by the second computing node, wherein the first message is a MAC security (MACsec) Key Agreement Protocol Data Unit (MKPDU) according to IEEE Std 802.1X-2010;
• identifying, from a portion of the first message, a first indication that the first computing node is capable of utilizing a pre-shared secret key that is used to at least one of encrypt or decrypt communications according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol, wherein the first indication comprises octet 17 of the MKPDU set to a Pre-shared Secret Key Identifier (PSK_ID) Type field;
• by the second computing node, transmitting a second message to the first computing node, the second message including at least a second indication that the second computing node is capable of utilizing the pre-shared secret key to communicate according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol;
• and
• by the second computing node, receiving a third message from the first computing node according to the secure MAC layer communication protocol and using the pre-shared secret key.