Method and system for implementing and managing an enterprise identity management for distributed security in a computer system

• US 20040139050A1
• Filed: 11/17/2003
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LSI Logic Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.), Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Glazer, Elliott, Bishop, Fred, Armes, David, Barrett, Michael Richard, Steitz, Philip W., Gibbons, Stephen P., Shelby, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,660,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating the management of user identities includes an ownership component, a registration component, and a servicing component. When a user first desires to access a system using the present invention, the registration component verifies the user'"'"'s ownership of the underlying account by asking a variety of questions. Thereafter, when a user desires to service his account, the user may be re-queried to determine if he is attempting to access the correct information. An authentication and access component provides the functionality to access a system of the present invention. An audit component can be configured to periodically monitor the various accounts to ensure a continued linking between users and accounts.

Claims

1. A computing system for facilitating management of user identities comprising:

a registration component configured to facilitate gathering information from users and establishing a relationship between a user and an identity;

an ownership component configured to facilitate verification of the ownership of an account and to facilitate relating said ownership to said identity;

an audit component configured to periodically facilitate monitoring said account and said identity to verify the integrity of the relationship; and

a servicing component configured to facilitate maintaining and modifying information relating to said identity.

2. The computing system of claim 1 wherein:

said servicing component is further configured to be operated by users.

3. The computing system of claim 1 wherein:

said servicing component is further configured to be operated by one or more customer service representatives.

4. The computing system of claim 1 wherein

said ownership component is further configured to facilitate confirming the ownership of a user id.

5. The computing system of claim 4 wherein said ownership component is further configured for:

analyzing ownership data;

generating questions to be asked of a user to verify the identity of said user.

6. The computing system of claim 5 further configured for facilitating:

assigning a positive weight for a successful answer by an account associated with said identity;

assigning a negative weight for an unsuccessful answer by an account associated with said identity; and

aggregating said positive and negative weights to determine the likelihood a claimed identity is the owner of said account.

7. The computing system of claim 1 wherein

said ownership component is further configured to facilitate confirming the ownership of an account.

8. The computing system of claim 7 wherein ownership component is further configured to facilitate:

analyzing ownership data; and

generating questions to be asked of a user to verify the identity of said user.

9. The computing system of claim 8 further configured to facilitate:

assigning a positive weight for a successful answer by an identity associated with said account;

assigning a negative weight for an unsuccessful answer by an identity associated with said account; and

aggregating said positive and negative weights to determine the likelihood a claimed identity is the owner of said account.

10. The computing system of claim 1 wherein:

said audit component is configured to facilitate periodic confirmation of ownership information from said user.

11. The computing system of claim 1 wherein said audit component is configured to facilitate periodic confirmation of identity information.

12. The computing system of claim 1 wherein said information from said users comprises biometric information.

13. A method for facilitating the maintenance of relationships between a user identity and an account related to said user identity comprising:

assigning a positive weight for a successful confirmation of the relationships between said user identity with said account;

assigning a negative weight for an unsuccessful confirmation of the relationships between said user identity with said account; and

aggregating said positive and negative weights to determine the usage history of a user identity.