Abstract: A computer network includes a user computer connected to a communications network, an encryption/decryption device connected to the user computer, a plurality of authentication servers connected to the communications network, an authentication server selector that determines a near authentication server for the user computer from the plurality of authentication servers, wherein the user computer is connected to the near authentication server through the communication network. In a system including a first and second computing device which each store the same series of at least one value and each store a plurality of encrypting and decrypting processes, the first computing device establishing an encrypted communications session with the second computing device using at least one of the plurality of encrypting and decrypting processes selected from the plurality of encryption and decryption processes.