A token-based centralized method for authentication and for providing access to service providers to user information containing a unique user profile uniquely associated with a user's relationship with a service provider, comprising the steps of: authenticating a user presenting a user token at a user terminal, the user token having stored thereon a user ID; and accessing user information for the authenticated user stored in a storage network, wherein the accessing comprises: deriving a resource identifier using a one way function having at least two data input elements, the at least two data input elements including the user ID of the user and a service provider ID of the service provider, wherein the resource identifier is unique to the user ID and service provider ID pair and associated with the user information stored in the storage network; retrieving the user information from the storage network using the resource identifier; and providing the retrieved user information to the service provider, wherein the storage network is a dispersed storage network comprising a plurality of storage nodes, wherein the user information is stored in the storage network in accordance with an information dispersal algorithm, wherein the user information retrieving step includes the step of reconstructing the user information from the plurality of storage nodes, and the providing step comprises providing the reconstructed user information to the service provider, and wherein the storage network stores user information on behalf of a plurality of different service providers, each service provider having its own respective service provider ID, the storage network storing respective user information for a plurality of users for each service provider. authenticating a user presenting a user token at a user terminal, the user token having stored thereon a user ID; and accessing user information for the authenticated user stored in a storage network, wherein the accessing comprises: deriving a resource identifier using a one way function having at least two data input elements, the at least two data input elements including the user ID of the user and a service provider ID of the service provider, wherein the resource identifier is unique to the user ID and service provider ID pair and associated with the user information stored in the storage network; retrieving the user information from the storage network using the resource identifier; and providing the retrieved user information to the service provider, deriving a resource identifier using a one way function having at least two data input elements, the at least two data input elements including the user ID of the user and a service provider ID of the service provider, wherein the resource identifier is unique to the user ID and service provider ID pair and associated with the user information stored in the storage network; retrieving the user information from the storage network using the resource identifier; and providing the retrieved user information to the service provider, wherein the storage network is a dispersed storage network comprising a plurality of storage nodes, wherein the user information is stored in the storage network in accordance with an information dispersal algorithm, wherein the user information retrieving step includes the step of reconstructing the user information from the plurality of storage nodes, and the providing step comprises providing the reconstructed user information to the service provider, and wherein the storage network stores user information on behalf of a plurality of different service providers, each service provider having its own respective service provider ID, the storage network storing respective user information for a plurality of users for each service provider.