SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION OF MESSAGES

Methods and systems for using simple authenticated messages are disclosed for use with implementing (i) synchronization schemes, (ii) encoded control messaging schemes, and (iii) encrypted data communication schemes. Messages are authenticated by applying a secure hash function to one or more authentication tokens to produce hash results which are compared to stored trusted bit strings, wherein the stored trusted bit strings are replaced with the most-recently received authentication token whose corresponding hash result matched the stored bit string.