A network device is provided. The network device includes a communicating unit, configured to communicate with an information processing device via a network to make an operational setting for encrypted communication to be established between the network device and the information processing device, a searching packet receiving unit to receive a searching packet to search for network devices transmitted from the information processing device, a judging unit to judge the status of the operational setting for the encrypted communication, a reply packet generating unit to generate a reply packet including information regarding the result of the judgment made by the judging unit in response to the searching packet which is received by the searching packet receiving unit, and a reply packet transmitting unit to transmit the reply packet generated by the reply packet generating unit to the information processing device via the network.