A method at a first node for encoding a message for secure transmission to a second node comprising. The method includes receiving the message for transmission to the second node and fragmenting the message into a plurality of fragments, wherein each fragment is of a selected size. The method further includes encoding separately each fragment of the plurality of fragments using Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS), combining DTLS encoded fragments into a Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) message, and transmitting the message as a plurality of DTLS encoded fragments in the SCTP message to the second node.