Authentication Broker Service for Enterprise Access Management

The patent introduces an authentication broker service as an intermediary between the relying computing entity and external users. The broker service receives authentication requests from the relying entity, validates credentials against stored authentication information, and returns authentication results. This intermediary approach maintains security by centralizing authentication logic while reducing the complexity of managing individual accounts for each external user, as the broker service handles the authentication overhead centrally rather than requiring the relying entity to manage each user account individually.

The authentication broker service enables external users to authenticate themselves using their own credentials without requiring manual account creation or management by the IT department. The broker service automatically validates credentials against stored authentication information and returns authentication results to the relying computing entity. This self-service approach maintains precise access control by verifying each user's credentials while eliminating the time-consuming administrative burden of manually creating, updating, and maintaining individual user accounts.

The authentication broker service provides a universal authentication mechanism that can handle diverse external users from different organizations with varying authentication requirements. Instead of requiring the relying computing entity to issue identities directly to each external user, the broker service serves as a universal authentication point that can validate credentials from multiple external sources. This multi-functional approach maintains authentication reliability by centralizing validation logic while increasing system adaptability to accommodate diverse external users from different enterprises with different authentication protocols and credential formats.