| CPC H04L 63/0435 (2013.01) [H04L 1/18 (2013.01); H04L 9/0891 (2013.01); H04L 9/3236 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A method comprising:
determining, by a network interface card (NIC) of a node in a distributed system comprising a plurality of nodes, that a collective operation, which is performed by a subset of the plurality of nodes in conjunction with each other, is initiated on the node;
generating, by the NIC, a new key based on a previous key operational at the NIC;
encrypting, by the NIC, a first packet destined to another node in the distributed system based on the new key;
determining, at the NIC, which key of the new and previous keys is used to encrypt a second packet received within a duration of the collective operation;
decrypting, at the NIC, the second packet with the determined key; and
in response to determining that the collective operation has reached a threshold point, discarding the previous key.
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