Security in an asymmetrical network is addressed. At a security element, a handshake message is received on a path within the asymmetrical network. The handshake message is associated with an attempt to establish a session. A determination is made as to whether there is an entry for the handshake message in a local state table. When there is no entry in the local state table, then an entry is generated in the local state table, a notification of the handshake message is sent to a centralized computing platform that tracks handshake messages received by a plurality of security elements in the asymmetrical network, and the handshake message is allowed to pass along the path. A notification is received from the centralized computing platform that the session associated with the handshake message is allowed, based on associated handshake messages received at the centralized computing platform.