According to one embodiment, an end station is provided for coupling to a communications network and participation in a communications session with another end station using the network. The end station includes encryption circuitry including a first linear feedback shift register (LFSR) and an associated first interconnect mask. The encryption circuitry is operable to generate an output sequence using the first LFSR and the first interconnect mask. A first table contains a plurality of polynomials each corresponding to an available interconnect mask. The end station is operable to receive a key specifying the first interconnect mask and to use the output sequence of the encryption circuitry to encrypt an information stream.