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

• US 7,143,095 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Issued: 11/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC), General Counsel's Office
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Gibbons, Stephen P., Steitz, Philip W., Glazer, Elliott, Shelby, James, Bishop, Fred, Armes, David, Barrett, Michael Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Hassan
• Application Number:
  US10/334,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20040139081A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/9, 707/10, 707/104.1, 705/7, 705/36, 705/39, 709/228, 709/229, 710/200, 708/52, 713/201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

An Enterprise Identity Management system includes a registration component, an ownership component, and an audit component. The registration component is configured to associate a user ID with specific accounts that are accessible via a computer system. The ownership component is configured to verify the ownership of the accounts. The audit component is configured to perform periodic checks to ensure the validity of the association between the user ID and the ownership of the accounts.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computer for facilitating issuance of an identity associated with an account comprising:

receiving at said computer, a request for said identity, wherein said identity is associated with an account;

determining, at said computer, authentication rules associated with said account, wherein authentication questions to be asked of a user are based upon said authentication rules;

issuing, by said computer, said identity to said user when at least a portion of said authentication questions are correctly answered;

monitoring, by said computer, changes in a relationship between said user and said identity over a period of time to periodically perform an automatic adjustment of said authentication questions upon a deterioration of said relationship, wherein said deterioration of said relationship is based upon user activity;

evaluating a current transaction of said user;

comparing said current transaction to previous transactions performed by said user; and

, assigning a positive weight for a similar transaction by said user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a negative weight for a non-similar transaction by said user.

3. A method implemented by a computer for facilitating issuance of an identity associated with an account comprising:

receiving, at said computer, a request for said identity, wherein said identity is associated with an account;

determining at said computer, authentication rules associated with said account, wherein authentication questions to be asked of a user are based upon said authentication rules;

issuing, by said computer, said identity to said user when at least a portion of said authentication questions are correctly answered;

monitoring, by said computer, changes in a relationship between said user and said identity over a period of time to periodically perform an automatic adjustment of said authentication questions upon a deterioration of said relationship, wherein said deterioration of said relationship is based upon user activity;

assigning a positive weight for a successful transaction by said user on said account, wherein said successful transaction is based on security requirements of said account and risk factors relating to various transaction types associated with said account;

assigning a negative weight for an unsuccessful transaction by said user on said account; and

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

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

analyzing said aggregation of said positive weights and said negative weights to determine a validity of said identity.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising removing a relationship between said identity and said account when said analyzing step fails to meet a predetermined criteria.