A method of ensuring the identity of a first processing device to a second processing device allows for secure network communication between the devices. A network resource address including an encoded trusted identifier in a portion of the address excluding the host name of the first processing device are provided to a second processing device by a trusted distribution mechanism. The trusted identifier is derived from a public key of the first processing device. Communication is initiated with the first processing device at the network resource address and a public key purporting to identify the first processing device is received in response to initiating the communication. The trusted identifier is compared to a transformation of at least a portion of the public key to determine a match between the identifier and the transformation. If the trusted identifier and the transformation match, the identity of the first processing device is verified.