Abstract: A server is adapted to communicate with client devices using a selected one of a plurality of alternative protection suites. The server receives from a terminal device information that identifies an offered list of protection suites supported by the terminal device. A particular one of the protection suites that is supported by both the server and the terminal device is selected by the server in a deterministic way. If use of a particular protection suite is prohibited by law in the geographical region where the terminal device is located, the server selects a different matching protection suite in substitution for the protection suite that it otherwise would have selected. The server identifies the selected protection suite to the terminal device and thereafter communicates with the terminal device based on the parameter values in the protection suite.