Distributed authentication in a protocol-based sphere of trust in which a given external connection outside the sphere of trust may carry communications from multiple sources

a technology of distributed authentication and sphere of trust, which is applied in the field of network authentication technology, can solve the problem that the system does not immediately authenticate, and achieve the effect of preserving storage and processing resources and reducing the amount of authentication

US20090199288A1Inactive Publication Date: 2009-08-06MICROSOFT TECH LICENSING LLC
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Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
US · United States
Patent Type
Applications(United States)
Current Assignee / Owner
Publication Date
2009-08-06
Estimated Expiration
Not applicable · inactive patent

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Abstract

A distributed authentication model that operates within a protocol-based sphere of trust. Rather than being able to communicate with any one of the computing systems internal to the sphere of trust, the amount of authentication is reduced by having the external computing systems initially communicate with a specific edge internal computing system. Many if not all of the internal computing systems then delegate the task of authentication to the edge computing system, and will rely on any authentication performed by the edge computing system. This allows the task of authentication to scale well for large protocol-based spheres of trust.
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Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. The Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to network authentication technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to mechanisms in which authentication responsibility in a protocol-based sphere of trust is distributed and delegated throughout the sphere of trust.

[0003] 2. Background and Related Art

[0004] Never before have so many had access to so much information, and never before have so many had the ability to readily communicate as they do now. This new era of highly advanced communication and information access is largely enabled by the advancement and proliferation of computer networks throughout the globe. Any individual having access to an Internet-enabled computing system may communicate with (or access resources from) any one of millions of other similarly-enabled computing systems (and potentially also their associated users). While this is certainly advantageous when behavior is appropriate, there is als...

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Embodiment Construction

[0022]The principles of the present invention relate to a distributed authentication model that operates within a protocol-based sphere of trust. Rather than being able to communicate with any one of the computing systems internal to the sphere of trust, the amount of authentication is reduced by having the external computing systems initially communicate with a specific internal computing system which we will hereinafter refer to as an “edge” computing system. Many, if not all, of the internal computing systems then delegate the task of authentication to the edge computing system, and will rely on any authentication performed by the edge computing system. This allows the task of authentication to scale well for large protocol-based spheres of trust.

[0023]Embodiments within the scope of the present invention include computer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available medi...