Establishing authenticated network connections

An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media with executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a system, cause the system to authenticate a prospective peer on the network during a connection establishment phase prior to establishing a network connection and prior to an authenticating peer and the prospective peer accepting any application level authentication data from each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers, including sending authentication data in a TCP/IP layer in one or more packets selected from a group consisting of a SYN packet, SYN-ACK packet and an ACK packet, and

• wherein authenticating the prospective peer occurs during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network, with an initial packet sent between the peers or with multiple exchanges between the peers that are part of connection establishment phase.

A method comprising:

• a first peer receiving a SYN packet from a second peer over a network during a connection establishment phase prior to a network connection being established between the first and second peers and prior to the first and second peers accepting any data packets from each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• using information in the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to attempt to authenticate the second peer prior to the network connection being established.

An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media with executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a system, cause the system to:

• receive a SYN packet from a second peer over a network during a connection establishment phase prior to a network connection being established between a first peer and a second peer and a second peer and prior to the first and second peers accepting any application level authentication data from each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• use information in the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to attempt to authenticate the second peer prior to the network connection being established.

An apparatus comprising:

• means in a first peer for receiving a SYN packet from a second peer over a network during a connection establishment phase prior to a network connection being established between the first and second peers and prior to the first and second peers accepting any application level authentication data form each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• means for using information in the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to attempt to authenticate the second peer prior to the network connection being established.

A method comprising:

• a first peer creating a SYN packet that includes information to be used by a second peer to attempt to authenticate the first peer during a connection establishment phase prior to the network connection being established between the first and second peers and prior to the first and second peers accepting any application level authentication data form each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• the first peer sending the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to the second peer over a network for authentication prior to a network connection being established between the first and second peers.

An article of manufacture having one or more recordable media with executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a system, cause the system to:

• create a SYN packet that includes information to be used by a second peer to attempt to authenticate the first peer during a connection establishment phase prior to the network connection being established between a first peer and a second peer and prior to the first and second peers accepting any application level authentication data from each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• send the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to the second peer over a network for authentication prior to a network connection being established between the first and second peers.

An apparatus comprising:

• means in a first peer for creating a SYN packet that includes information to be used by a second peer to attempt to authenticate the first peer during a connection establishment phase prior to the network connection being established between the first and second peers and prior to the first and second peers accepting any application level authentication data from each other that are part of a post-connection establishment exchange between peers;
• and
• means for sending the SYN packet during and before completion of a connection establishment phase of a TCP/IP protocol used for communication on the network to the second peer over a network for authentication prior to a network connection being established between the first and second peers.