An information apparatus includes circuitry to receive a communication request transmitted from a request source device. The communication request is one of a plaintext communication request and a ciphertext communication request. In response to receiving the plaintext communication request, the circuitry transfers the plaintext communication request for processing. In response to receiving the ciphertext communication request, the circuitry decrypts the ciphertext communication request to obtain another communication request and transfers the another communication request for processing.