Privacy broker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9268933-B2
Application number	US-201213591497-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2012
Priority date	Aug 22, 2012
Publication date	Feb 23, 2016
Grant date	Feb 23, 2016

Abstract

A brokered authentication request is received corresponding to an interaction between a particular user and a particular online entity. An identity provider corresponding to the particular user is identified that stores user data identifying the particular user. Confirmation is received that the identity provider has authenticated the particular user to a user profile maintained by the identity provider and a unique persistent user identifier is generated for the particular user that is unique within a system to a pairing of the first user with the first entity. The user identifier is caused to be communicated to the first entity for authenticating the first user in interactions with the first entity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:
receive, at a privacy broker, a brokered authentication request corresponding to an interaction between a first user and a first entity;
identify, at the privacy broker, an identity provider corresponding to the first user, wherein the identity provider stores user data identifying the first user and at least a portion of the user data is to be hidden from the privacy broker and the first entity;
receive confirmation, at the privacy broker, that the identity provider authenticated the first user to a user profile maintained by the identity provider and associated with the user data;
generate, at the privacy broker, a unique persistent user identifier for the first user using a joint hash function, wherein inputs to the joint hash function comprise a first input from the privacy broker and a second input from the identity provider, the user identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the first user with the first entity, the first input value is derived from a first secret value unknown to the identity provider and corresponding to the first entity, and the second input value is derived from a second secret value unknown to the privacy broker and corresponding to the portion of the user data; and
cause the user identifier to be communicated to the first entity for authenticating the first user in interactions with the first entity, wherein the user identifier abstracts identity of the first user to the first entity, the first entity is to provide online resources to the first user based at least in part on the user identifier, and identity of the first entity to be interacted with in the interaction is invisible to the identity provider.

2. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein identity of the first user is unknown to the privacy broker.

3. The storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the broker authentication request is received in response to a redirect of the first user from the first entity to the privacy broker.

4. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to receive a selection of the identity provider from the first user, wherein the identity provider is one of a plurality of identity providers available for selection by the user.

5. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the identity provider is identified in a redirect of the first user from the first entity to the privacy broker.

6. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to send the first user a redirect to the identity provider based on the identification of the identity provider.

7. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the brokered authentication request includes a request for user information of the first user, and the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:
cause the request for user information to be communicated to the identity provider, wherein user information returned by the identity provider in response to the request for user information masks identity of the first user and is communicated to the first entity.

8. The storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the user information includes at least one of age information of the first user, location information of the first user, reputation information for the first user, and gender information of the first user.

9. The storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the user information returned by the identity provider indicates whether a particular attribute of the first user satisfies a particular condition of the first entity for the particular attribute without identifying actual values of the particular attribute of the first user.

10. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first user is authenticated anonymously at the first entity.

11. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the user identifier is generated jointly by the privacy broker and the identity provider.

12. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first secret value identifies the first entity and the second secret value identifies the first user.

13. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein each of the first input and second input are hashed values.

14. The storage medium of claim 13 , wherein generating the user identifier includes:
exchanging the hashed first and second inputs;
generating a hash of the hashed first and second inputs.

15. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation is received from the first user.

16. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation is received from the identity provider.

17. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to receive feedback regarding the first entity from the first user, wherein the feedback references the user identifier.

18. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:
receive feedback regarding the first user from the first entity; and
communicate the feedback to the identity provider, wherein the feedback is referenced to the user identifier.

19. The storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
receive a brokered authentication request corresponding to an interaction between a second user and the first entity;
generate a second unique persistent user identifier for the second user, the second user identifier unique, within the system, to a pairing of the second user with the first entity; and
cause the second user identifier to be communicated to the first entity for authenticating the second user in interactions with the first entity.

20. The storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
receive a brokered authentication request corresponding to an interaction between the first user and a second entity providing online resources;
generate a second unique persistent user identifier for the first user, the second user identifier unique, within the system, to a pairing of the first user with the second entity; and
cause the second unique persistent user identifier to be communicated to the second entity for authenticating the first user in interactions with the second entity.

21. A method comprising:
receiving, at a privacy broker, a brokered authentication request corresponding to an interaction between a first user and a first entity;
identifying, at the privacy broker, an identity provider corresponding to the first user, wherein the identity provider stores user data identifying the first user and at least a portion of the user data is to be privately stored at the identity provider;
receiving, at the privacy broker, confirmation that the identity provider authenticated the first user to a user profile maintained by the identity provider and associated with the user data;
generating, at the privacy broker, a unique persistent user identifier for the first user using a joint hash function, wherein inputs to the joint hash function comprise a first input from the privacy broker and a second input from the identity provider, the user identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the first user with the first entity, the first input value is derived from a first secret value unknown to the identity provider and corresponding to the first entity, and the second input value is derived from a second secret value unknown to the privacy broker and corresponding to the portion of the

Assignees

• Stecher Martin
• Mcafee Inc

Inventors

• Stecher Martin

Classifications

• H04L2463/102

  applying security measure for e-commerce · CPC title

• G06F21/45 Primary

  Structures or tools for the administration of authentication · CPC title

• H04L63/0421

  Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer · CPC title

• G06Q30/06

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title