Patent ID: 7716721

Claim:
A method of re-authenticating a computing device seeking access to a resource, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving a first request from the computing device for authentication by a server comprising one or more processors; forwarding the first request received from the computing device to an authentication device to enable said authentication device to authenticate said computing device using a full-authentication mechanism for a first session, wherein state information related to authenticating said computing device for the first session is created; wherein the state information comprises one or more of: transport layer security (TLS) session ID; protected access credentials; cryptographic information; session expiration information; transport layer security (TLS) master secret; access control policies that indicate what type of access the computing device should have to protected resources; receiving said state information from said authentication device; the server storing said state information on a state cache accessible by the server; subsequent to termination of the first session: receiving a second request from the computing device for authentication by the server; re-authenticating said computing device for a second session, in response to said second request, using said stored state information without again contacting said authentication device; receiving, at an authenticator device, a third request for authentication from said computing device; determining that said authenticator device does not have valid state information for said computing device stored thereon; and responsive to the determination that said authenticator device does not have said valid state information, forwarding said third request for authentication from said authenticator device to said authentication device.