| CPC H04L 63/0884 (2013.01) [H04L 63/0853 (2013.01); H04L 63/16 (2013.01); H04L 2463/082 (2013.01)] | 16 Claims |

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1. A first electronic device comprising:
one or more processors;
memory storing a communication stack usable to establish communication paths with other electronic devices; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining, by a component placed in a Layer 2 (L2) or Layer 3 (L3) of the communication stack, that a second electronic device is attempting to establish an L2 or L3 communication path with the first electronic device;
prior to communicating application data and prior to establishing any L2 or L3 communication path with the second electronic device:
determining, by the component of the communication stack, to authenticate the second electronic device with an authentication service;
sending, to one or more devices associated with the authentication service, a request to authenticate the second electronic device; and
receiving, from the one or more devices, an indication that the one or more devices authenticated the second electronic device;
based at least in part on the second electronic device being authenticated, allowing the second electronic device to establish the L2 or L3 communication path with the first electronic device; and
at least partly using the L2 or L3 communication path, establishing a Layer 7 (L7) communication session with the second electronic device by proceeding through the communication stack.
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