The key distribution problem is considered one of the most important issues for providing secure multicast communication. Logical Key Hierarchy (LKH) protocols are considered one of the best solutions proposed for solving the scalability of multicast key distribution protocols. The use of LKH protocols reduces the computation complexity cost from O(n), where n is the number of the whole group members to O(log(n)). In the present paper, a design of a high performance protocol for securing

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... st communication is proposed. The proposed protocol is based on the idea of organizing the keys in a tree as in LKH protocols. In order to achieve lower computation overhead, the proposed protocol uses a multi-processor system. It has to be noted that LKH protocol relies heavily on one central point, therefore, it represents a single point of failure and for a large tree; the server's throughput can represent a bottleneck. The use of multiple processors could solve this problem and enhance the server's throughput. The proposed protocol is analyzed according to: the number of processors, the tree height and the tree degree. The analysis shows that the use of multiprocessor system will enhance the system performance which is considered an important factor for both real time and wireless applications.