Methods and apparatus for initialization vector processing

Methods and apparatus are provided for using explicit initialization vectors in both encryption and decryption processing. In one example, a sender generates an initialization vector, identifies cryptographic keys, encrypts data using the initialization vectors and the cryptographic keys, and transmits the encrypted data in a packet along with the initialization vector. A receiver identifies cryptographic keys, extracts the initialization vector from the received packet, and decrypts the encrypted data using the cryptographic keys and the initialization vector extracted from the received packet. Specific command information is used for all the packets in a connection, and no initialization vector is copied into the data structure containing the command information.