Patent ID: 8806589
Filing Date: 2014-08-12
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. An authentication server comprising: an access manager to receive an authentication request for a user seeking access to a resource, and to identify that a first authentication scheme is to be used for authenticating said user before allowing access to said resource, wherein said first authentication scheme specifies that all of a first set of credentials, and a second set of credentials and a third set of credentials are to be collected and checked for processing said authentication request; and a custom module to send to said access manager a first command indicating said first set of credentials to be collected, wherein said custom module implements said first authentication scheme, said access manager, in response to receiving of said first command collecting said first set of credentials from said user, and checking, in combination with said custom module, whether said first set of credentials authenticates said user, said custom module to send to said access manager a second command after said checking, said second command indicating said second set of credentials to be collected, said access manager, in response to receiving of said second command, collecting said second set of credentials from said user and checking, in combination with said custom module, whether said second set of credentials authenticates said user, wherein said access manager is designed to perform said collecting and said checking in response to receiving only of a specific set of commands, wherein commands that are not included in said specific set are unknown commands, said specific set of commands including said first command and said second command, said custom module to send to said access manager a third command, said access manager to determine that said third command received from said custom module is not included in said specific set of commands and is accordingly an unknown command, wherein said access manager forwards unknown commands including said third command to a credential collection module and receives said third set of credentials from said credential collection module in response to forwarding said third command, wherein said access manager sends said third set of credentials to said custom module, wherein said authentication server operates to support unknown commands, including said third command, without having to modify a program logic of said access manager, wherein, in response to said first authentication scheme specifying that said first set of credentials, said second set of credentials, and said third set of credentials are to be collected and checked for processing said authentication request, said custom module sends said first command, said second command, and said third command, and said access manager, in combination with said custom module, collects and checks all of said first set of credentials, said second set of credentials, and said third set of credentials to process said authentication request.