1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a client computing device, a secure content catalog that indicates a set of content objects and their corresponding digests, wherein the catalog is digitally signed with a private key of a producer of the catalog; and constructing an interest for a content object, wherein the interest indicates a name for the content object and the corresponding digest for the content object based on the received secure content catalog, and wherein the name for the content object is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier (HSVLI) which comprises contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level.