A communication system for resuming a connection comprises a user equipment (UE) and network nodes. A first network node is configured to prepopulate a UE context, and send, to a second network node, the UE context. The second network node is configured to receive, from the first network node, the UE context, and send, to a UE, a resume request message including a freshness parameter and the UE context. The UE is configured to receive, from the second network node, a resume request message including the freshness parameter and the UE context, generate an authentication token based on the freshness parameter and the UE context, and send, to the second network node, a resume response message including the authentication token. The communication system provides a freshness parameter and a prepopulated UE context to secure and facilitate resume procedure against replay attacks.