Symmetric key generation, authentication, and communication between multiple entities in network

There is provided a method of generating a distributed symmetric key by a plurality of entities in a network, the method comprising, for each entity, creating a portion of the symmetric key, broadcasting the portion of the symmetric key to each other entity of the plurality of entities, receiving the portion of the symmetric key from each other entity of the plurality of entities, and transmitting the portion of the symmetric key to each entity of the plurality of entities. A symmetric key is generated from at least some of a portion of the symmetric key of the entity and a portion of the symmetric key of each other of the plurality of entities. There is provided an authentication method for authenticating a plurality of entities in a network, the method comprising, for each entity, creating a ledger comprising ledger items for each entity, creating a message comprising ledger items for entities, encrypting the message using at least a portion of a generated symmetric key, and transmitting the encrypted messa