Patent ID: 8844005
Filing Date: 2014-09-23
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for authenticating a user of an account associated with an online service, the method comprising: receiving, by a server computer, a request to reset a password for the user's online account; obtaining a user behavior history from one or more computing devices associated with the user, wherein the user behavior history includes activities performed by the user outside of the user's online account; extracting user information associated with the activities performed by the user outside of the user's online account from the obtained user behavior history; and generating one or more challenges based on the user information obtained from data sources outside of the user's online account, wherein generating the one or more challenges involve generating a challenge based on one or more of: a GPS (Global Positioning System) trace associated with the one or more computing devices, a computing device in a physical vicinity of the one or more computing devices, and a web-browsing history identifying webpages viewed by the user on the one or more computing devices, and wherein the one or more challenges facilitate verification of the user's identity for the online account.