Coordinating credentials across disparate credential stores
First Claim
1. In a computing system environment, a method of coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores, comprising:
- determining credential information for at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores;
commonly formatting said credential information for displaying to a user via a common interface, without altering a format of said credential information in the at least two said multiple disparate credential stores;
by the user, indicating via the common interface various user credentials of the commonly formatted said credential information for synchronizing;
by the user, linking via the common interface at least a portion of the various user credentials of the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores indicated for synchronizing;
determining updated credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores;
commonly formatting said updated credential information; and
if the updated credential information and the credential information differ, updating the various linked user credentials of the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores with the received updated credential information.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and methods are described for coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores. A synchronizing engine requests and receives past and present credential information from the disparate credential stores. Users indicate which, if any, of the credential information they desire to synch together. Upon common formatting of the credential information, comparisons reveal whether differences exist between the past and present versions. If differences exist, the information is updated. In this manner, users link together various passwords, keys or other secrets to maintain convenience from a single point of control, such as in a single-sign-on (SSO) environment, regardless of the disparateness of the stores. The reverse is also possible such that linked credentials are accessible from the multiple stores. Retrofitting existing SSO services is another feature as are computer program products and computing network interaction. User or enterprise policies are also used in governing these credentials.
86 Citations
25 Claims
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1. In a computing system environment, a method of coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores, comprising:
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determining credential information for at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; commonly formatting said credential information for displaying to a user via a common interface, without altering a format of said credential information in the at least two said multiple disparate credential stores; by the user, indicating via the common interface various user credentials of the commonly formatted said credential information for synchronizing; by the user, linking via the common interface at least a portion of the various user credentials of the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores indicated for synchronizing; determining updated credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; commonly formatting said updated credential information; and if the updated credential information and the credential information differ, updating the various linked user credentials of the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores with the received updated credential information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a computing system environment, a method of coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores, comprising:
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requesting credential information for at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; receiving the requested credential information through a common interface and in a common format, said common format being displayed to a user via the common interface without altering a format of the requested credential information in the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; computing a first hash for the received credential information; by the user, linking via the common interface at least a portion of the received credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; requesting updated credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; receiving the updated credential information through the common interface and in the common format; computing a second hash for the received updated credential information; and if the second hash does not match the first hash, updating the various linked user credentials for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores with the received updated credential information. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer program product available as a download or on a computer readable medium having executable instructions for coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores, comprising:
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a first component for requesting and receiving credential information for at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores and, thereafter, updated credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; a second component to commonly format the credential information and the updated credential information for the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores, the second component performing the step of commonly formatting for display to a user without altering a format of the credential information and the updated credential information in the at least two of said multiple disparate credential stores; a third component to receive user input indicating various user credentials of the requested and received credential information desired to be linked and to be synchronized together in the event the requested and received credential information and the updated credential information have differences; and a fourth component for determining whether the credential information and the updated credential information actually have said differences. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A computing system for coordinating user credentials across multiple disparate credential stores, comprising:
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a user interface module for indicating by a user various credentials to be synchronized with one another; a single-sign-on service; a synchronizing engine interfacing with the single-sign-on service; and at least two credential stores of the multiple disparate credential stores having dissimilar credential information, wherein the synchronizing engine receives the dissimilar credential information in a common format without altering a format of the dissimilar credential information in the multiple disparate credential stores and is configured to link at least a portion of the dissimilar credential information from the multiple disparate credential stores and to compare past and present versions of the dissimilar credential information to ascertain whether differences exist, in the event differences exist, the synchronizing engine being configured to update the various linked credentials indicated by a user via the user interface module. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification