Method and apparatus for trust based routing in data networks

A method and apparatus determine a trust level of a path through a plurality of routers by an endpoint by transmitting a path setup message requesting a path reservation for a first path through a subset of the routers, by receiving in response to transmission of the path setup message a trust level message containing trust level information inserted by each router in the first path through the subset, and by evaluating the inserted trust level information to determine if the first path has a sufficient trust level. Another method and apparatus gather trust level information from a router by receiving a trust level message into which a trust level of the router can be inserted, by inserting trust level information of the router into the trust level message, and by re-transmitting the trust level message on a designated path.