摘要 |
<p>Various embodiments of the invention provide enhanced authentication solutions, including without limitation methods, systems and software programs for authenticating an entity and/or for facilitating such authentication. In accordance with certain embodiments, an entity (such as a user, a computer, etc.) attempts to authenticate in order to use a resource (such as a server, an application, etc.). Merely by way of example, the entity may provide a username or some other identifier to a computer responsible for authenticating the entity. In response, the authenticating computer may transmit a challenge, such as an authentication code. In particular embodiments, the challenge may be used to derive an authentication reply, which in turn may be used to derive and/or create a password (in one set of embodiments, the authentication reply itself may be the password). The derivation of the authentication reply may also require the user to provide some sort of identification, such as a personal information code ("PIC"), biometric verification, etc. The password then may be supplied to the authenticating computer, which can, in some cases, use the username and the password to authenticate the entity.</p> |