Patent ID: 7735122

Claim:
An apparatus for mapping credentials, comprising: a processor configured to: create a master credential that is used to identify and to authenticate a requestor in an electronic environment, the master credential is later acquired from a browser cookie and the master credential initially authenticates the requestor; generate a new service credential for a service, and wherein the service credential is used to authenticate the requestor via an alias for the requestor for access to the service according to rules defined by the service and the service credential is different from the master credential and includes the alias to prevent the service from discovering the master credential, and the new service credential is generated by the method interacting with the service using the rules to establish the new service credential with that service for the alias; generate a mapping from the master credential to the service credential thereby permitting the mapping to be used to acquire the service credential from the master credential when the requestor attempts to access the service and the service credential identifies and authenticates the requestor via the alias to the service according to the rules defined by the service, and the master credential is only transmitted between the requestor and the method, and in a first configuration the service credential is generated in a manner that permits the service credential to be dynamically reconstituted when requested; and synchronize, in a second configuration, changes made to the service credential by an administrator of the service without knowledge or intervention being required by the requestor, the second configuration occurring when the first configuration is not present.