A first message comprising a received indication of a management key block (MKB) and a received indication of an authorization table (AT) is received at a first network device from a second network device. The received indications of the MKB and AT are validated by comparing them to generated indications of the MKB and AT, respectively. A response is generated based on the validation of the received indications and transmitted from the first network device to the second network device. The generated indications and response are stored. A second message comprising a second received indication of the MKB and a second received indication of the AT is received at the first network device from the second network device. The first network device communicates with the second network device in accordance with the stored response on determining that the second received indications match corresponding stored indications.