The certificate issued by a certificate authority used in authenticating a user terminal can be scrambled prior to being set to an access point. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a user terminal having a memory in which a user terminal certificate is stored. The user terminal also has a processor coupled to the memory to scramble the user terminal certificate using a shared secret to be known only by the user terminal and an access point of the wireless access network, and a transmitter coupled to the processor to send a message to the access point, the message including the scrambled user terminal certificate.