Method And System For User Authentication

• US 20170078262A1
• Filed: 09/16/2016
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Total System Services Incorporated (Global Payments Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Total System Services Incorporated (Global Payments Incorporated)
• Inventors: Riddick, Donald Morford
• Granted Patent: US 10,454,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2103 Challenge-response
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems for user authentication. User-specific data is aggregated by an authentication system. Answers to authentication questions are identified in the aggregated data. A user device attempting to authenticate with the authentication system is presented with the authentication question and selectable options for answering the authentication question. The selectable options include one or more valid answers and one or more false answers. A user device is authenticated after correctly answering one or more presented authentication questions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selecting at least one authentication question;

identifying, based on transaction data associated with a user of a user device, at least one valid answer for each of the at least one authentication question;

transmitting, to the user device, the at least one authentication question and a plurality of selectable options comprising the at least one valid answer;

receiving, for each of the at least one authentication question, at least one selected answer from the plurality of selectable options; and

establishing an authenticated session with the user device responsive to a determination that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered based on the at least one selected answer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the at least one authentication question from a plurality of authentication questions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one valid answer is identified based on a social network profile associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating at least a portion of the transaction data from a third party service, wherein aggregating the at least a portion of the transaction data is facilitated by at least one of authentication credentials or permissions obtained from the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of selectable options comprise at least one false answer.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising selecting the at least one false answer from a plurality of false answers.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying the at least one false answer from the transaction data.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered responsive to the at least one false answer not being included in the at least one selected answer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the plurality of selectable options as a number of selectable options defined by a user preference.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the at least one authentication question and the plurality of selectable options comprises transmitting a user interface to the user device, the user interface comprising a plurality of selectable elements corresponding to the plurality of selectable options.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating the plurality of selectable images according to at least one of a same dimension, a same data size, a random file name, or a combination thereof.

12. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device, configured to;

select at least one authentication question;

identify, based on transaction data associated with a user of a user device, at least one valid answer for each of the at least one authentication question;

transmit to the user device, the at least one authentication question and a plurality of selectable options comprising the at least one valid answer;

receive, for each of the at least one authentication question, at least one selected answer from the plurality of selectable options; and

establish an authenticated session with the user device responsive to a determination that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered based on the at least one selected answer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to select the at least one authentication question from a plurality of authentication questions.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one valid answer is identified based on a social network profile associated with the user.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to aggregate at least a portion of the transaction data from a third party service, wherein aggregating the at least a portion of the transaction data is facilitated by at least one of authentication credentials or permissions obtained from the user.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of selectable options comprise at least one false answer.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to select the at least one false answer from a plurality of false answers.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to determine that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered responsive to the at least one false answer not being included in the at least one selected answer.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to determine that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered responsive to every valid answer in the plurality of selectable options being included in the at least one selected answer.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one computing device is configured to determine that the at least one authentication question has been correctly answered responsive to a number of valid answers included in the at least one selected answer meeting a threshold.