1. A control key for controlling the dispatching of a data packet across a plurality of software modules running on an integrated network security device, the control key being appended to the data packet, the control key comprising: an operations section including encoded information for operations, the operations being basic security software modules applied in an invariable order, the encoding being performed using bits that indicate the invariable order of applying the basic security software modules, the invariable order being invariable for control keys appended to data packets associated with different connections; and an application section including encoded information in binary for the sequence of advanced security software modules to be applied in a programmable and variable order to a given packet, the software modules being the applications to be encoded, wherein the sequence of advanced security software modules are in the variable order for control keys appended to data packets associated with different connections.