Portable computerized device adapted for ad hoc security associations

A portable computing device configured to provide secure data communications with a network via a network communications interface, the device comprising:

• a host computer;
• and
• a network security apparatus configured to communicate data with other network security apparatus over the network via the establishment of an association, the establishment of the association between the network security apparatus and the other network security apparatus resultant in the execution of a key generation algorithm configured to cause the network security apparatus and the other network security apparatus to exchange information utilized in the generation of cryptographic keys;
• the network security apparatus further configured to:
• determine whether an association between the network security apparatus and the other network security apparatus in communication with the network exists;
• receive a message sent from a higher layer process in the host computer for transmission over the network;
• convert at least a portion of the received message to a format utilized by the network;
• and
• transmit the message received from the higher layer process to the other network security apparatus when the association does exist;
• wherein the network security apparatus comprises an encryption algorithm that is initialized at least in part to utilize an initialization vector (IV), the encryption algorithm configured so that the encryption of data using the same cryptographic key, but a different IV, will produce a different ciphered output.

A portable computing device configured to provide secure data communications with a network via a network communications interface, the device comprising:

• a host computer;
• and
• a network security module comprising:
• an association determination process configured to determine whether an association exists between the network security module and another network security module in communication with the network;
• an association manager process configured to establish an association with one or more other network security modules, the act of establishing the association resulting in the authentication of the one or more other network security modules as well as the authentication of the portable computing device to the one or more other network security modules;
• an interface configured to receive a message sent from a higher layer process, where the message is intended for transmission over the network;
• and
• a management process in communication with the network communications interface and configured to transmit the message to the network when the association exists;
• wherein at least a portion of the message is configured to be evaluated by the another network security module that utilizes a first cryptographic residue generated at the another network security module using at least locally stored information, and a second residue of the transmitted at least a portion of the message.

A portable computing device configured to provide secure data communications with a network via a network communications interface, the device comprising:

• a host computer;
• and
• a network security module, comprising:
• an association determination process configured to determine whether an association exists between the network security module and another network security module in communication with the network;
• an association manager process configured to establish an association with one or more other network security modules if the association is determined to not exist, the act of establishing an association resulting in the authentication of the one or more other network security modules as well as the authentication of the portable computing device to the one or more other network security modules;
• an interface configured to receive a message sent from a higher layer process, wherein the message is intended for transmission over the network;
• and
• a management process in communication with the interface and the network communications interface, the management process configured to transmit the message towards the network if the association determination process determines that the association exists;
• wherein the network security module operates according to a trusted session-based protocol, the trusted session-based protocol configured to generate one or more encryption keys in response to the act of establishing an association, the one or more encryption keys being substantially unique to the association;
• and
• wherein the trusted session-based protocol provides at least one mechanism to verify that at least a portion of the message is unaltered during transmission to the network, the at least one mechanism configured to verify that the at least a portion of the message is unaltered during transmission to the network comprising a cryptographic residue.