Patent ID: 8220033
Filing Date: 2012-07-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for retrieving a user credential, comprising: receiving, from a requestor, a request at a computer to retrieve the user credential via an application programming interface (API); identifying a target credential store that stores the user credential; determining whether the requestor has access to the target credential store; in response to the requestor not having access to the target credential store, determining whether API is operating in a privileged mode and whether the requestor is authorized to perform a lookup in the bootstrap credential store, wherein the API is in communication with the target credential store and bootstrap credential store via a service provider interface; in response to the API operating in the privileged mode and the requestor being authorized to access the bootstrap credential store, performing a lookup in the bootstrap credential store and retrieving the bootstrap credential; and retrieving the user credential from the target credential store using the obtained bootstrap credential.