Abstract: Security peer failure, in a network, is reduced by detecting peer liveness after a session has been established between a first and a second peer utilizing a protocol for setting up a security association. A protocol for detecting faults establishes a session between the first and second peer and the fault detecting session is associated with the security association session. Alternatively the security association may be registered with the fault detecting session. The purpose of registering the fault detecting session and the security association session is to determine liveness of the security association peer and when the fault detecting session fails, the peer is notified to take corrective action.