Secure communications on a network. An unauthenticated client on an
network sends start packets to locate other clients. The unauthenticated
client receives responses to the start packets from other clients on the
network. The responses may be advertise packets that are from advertising
clients that may be authenticated clients or other unauthenticated
clients in authenticated mode. The unauthenticated client prioritizes the
received packets so that authentication can be performed with the most
desirable advertising client. Authentication packets are sent and
received between the unauthenticated client and the advertising client in
an attempt to authenticate.