Methods and apparatus are provided for an entity such as a CPU to efficiently call a cryptography accelerator to perform cryptographic operations. A function call causes the cryptography accelerator to execute multiple cryptographic operations in a manner tailored for specific processing steps, such as steps during a handshake phase of a secured session. The techniques provide efficient use of hardware processing resources, data interfaces, and memory interfaces.
Methods and apparatus are provided for a cryptography accelerator to efficiently perform authentication and encryption operations. A data sequence is received at a cryptography accelerator. An encrypted authentication code and an encrypted data sequence is provided efficiently upon performing single pass authentication and encryption operations on the data sequence.