Secure communications on a network. An unauthenticated client on an network sends start packets to locate other clients. The unauthenticated client receives responses to the start packets from other clients on the network. The responses may be advertise packets that are from advertising clients that may be authenticated clients or other unauthenticated clients in authenticated mode. The unauthenticated client prioritizes the received packets so that authentication can be performed with the most desirable advertising client. Authentication packets are sent and received between the unauthenticated client and the advertising client in an attempt to authenticate.