Aspects for secure access and communication of information in a distributed media network may include detecting when a legacy media peripheral is connected to a PC and/or a media processing system on the distributed media network. One or more identifiers associated with the legacy media peripheral may be established and utilized to facilitate communication of the legacy media peripheral over the distributed media network. At least one legacy media peripheral identifier and at least one identifier of a user utilizing the legacy media peripheral may be requested. The legacy media peripheral identifier may be a serial number of the legacy media peripheral, while the user identifier may be a user password and/or a user name. Media peripheral association software may be executed on the PC and/or the media processing system and utilized for media peripheral association and authentication in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.