Methods and a system for passive authentication

• US 10,354,054 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Kobres, Erick, Antonakakis, Stavros, Mishra, Ravi Prakash, Bhowmick, Suman Kumar, Mulani, Ajay Gordhandas
• Primary Examiner(s): Shepperd, Eric W
• Application Number:
  US14/633,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20160063471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/316 by observing the pattern of computer usage, e.g. typical user behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/206 comprising security or operator identification provisions, e.g. password entry
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/321 using wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/33 using wearable devices, e.g. using a smartwatch or smart-glasses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/40 Security arrangements using identity modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 : Secure pairing of devices

Abstract

Resource attributes for resources are continuously and regularly collected from hardware and software resources of one or more devices. The resource attributes are continuously fed to one or more confidence calculators. At any given point in time, a single confidence value is provided to an authentication for making a decision as to whether to authenticate a user for access to a particular resource.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, on a device, resource attributes associated with a resource and obtaining settings for configuration options of the resource, wherein the settings change over time based on usage of the resource and the settings for the configuration options include;

device idle-time out setting,

device keyboard type,

device volume level,

device power saving mode,

device screen rotation, and

an indication whether a default setting permits installation of device applications outside of an application store; and

determining whether a user is to be passively authenticated for secure authenticated access to a second resource based on both the resource attributes and the settings, wherein the resource and the second resource include one or more of;

a hardware asset, a software asset, and a grouping of the hardware and software assets, and wherein the resource attributes are measurable metrics automatically obtained for the resource by one or more of;

a sensor and a software module, and wherein determining further includes providing a varying level of access to the second resource based on a calculated confidence value for the resource attributes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes receiving the resource attributes from the sensor of the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes receiving the resource attributes from the sensor of a different device in wireless communication with the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes receiving the resource attributes by monitoring the resource while the resource executes on the device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes updating a pattern of usage for the resource and assigned to the user based on the resource attributes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining further includes acquiring the resource attributes from at least one sensor integrated into a Point-Of-Sale (POS) device during a checkout transaction being conducted by the user at the POS device, and identifying the resource attributes as biometric data transparently acquired by the at least one sensor, and wherein the at least one sensor is the resource and the device is the POS device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining further includes obtaining a payment method registered to the user and automatically performing payment processing with that payment method for concluding the checkout transaction when the user is successfully passively authenticated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes comparing the resource attributes to a registered usage pattern assigned to the user, wherein the registered usage pattern is associated with a normalized pattern for historical usage patterns made by the user when accessing the resource.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing further includes updating the registered usage pattern based on the resource attributes.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further includes providing a secure token to the device when authentication is successful, and automatically providing the secure token from the device to a different device that executes the second resource for authenticating the user for access to the second resource.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein providing further includes time-stamping the secure token, wherein after a predefined period of elapsed time that begins at a time identified by the time stamping, the secure token becomes invalid for authenticating the user for access to the second resource, the device is a mobile device or wearable processing device of the user, the different device is a Point-Of-Sale (POS) device operated by the user, the user is a cashier, and the second resource is a transaction manager executing on the POS device.