1. A method to securely authenticate user credentials, the method including: encrypting a user credential with a public key at an access device, the public key being part of a public/private key pair suitable for use with an encryption algorithm; transmitting the encrypted network user credential from the access device to a decryption server; decrypting the user credential at the decryption server with a private key, the private key being part of the public/private key pair suitable for use with the encryption algorithm; and transmitting the decrypted user credential from the decryption server to an authentication server for verification.