| CPC H04L 63/20 (2013.01) [H04L 9/3268 (2013.01); H04L 63/0236 (2013.01); H04L 63/0263 (2013.01); H04L 63/08 (2013.01); H04L 63/083 (2013.01); H04L 63/10 (2013.01); H04L 63/1441 (2013.01); H04L 9/3234 (2013.01); H04L 9/3271 (2013.01); H04L 63/062 (2013.01); H04L 63/0861 (2013.01); H04L 63/0884 (2013.01); H04L 63/101 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A secure communication system enabling secure transport of information, comprising:
a secure network comprising one or more packet processing units (PPUs), wherein
each PPU comprises one or more processors and a memory;
one or more policy enforcement procedures configured for execution by a processor to store and apply a set of policies governing packet transmission;
a visa management service executed on one or more servers, the visa management service configured to generate and issue a plurality of visas, each visa being cryptographically signed, associated with a predefined configuration of policies, and associated with an expiration time; and
a plurality of internal packets transmitted within said secure network,
wherein each of said internal packets is associated with one of said visas,
wherein a PPU among said PPUs is configured to, before transmission of one of said internal packets:
(1) verify the authenticity of the visa associated with an internal packet using a cryptographic signature validation mechanism; and
(2) determine, based on the policy enforcement procedures, whether the configuration of policies associated with the visa permits transmission of the internal packet:
wherein the PPU transmits the internal packet only if the cryptographic signature is valid, the configuration of policies permits transmission, and the expiration time of the visa has not elapsed.
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