Patent ID: 7254711

Claim:
A network authentication system comprising: a service providing apparatus; a user terminal connected to said service providing apparatus via a communication network to perform authentication by using information of a user himself or herself; and a certificate authority for notifying, via a communication network, said service providing apparatus of a certificate indicating that the information of the user transmitted from said service providing apparatus via a communication network is valid, wherein said user terminal identifies the user by collation by using the information of the user and biometrical information of the user stored in a storage circuit in the user terminal, and notifies said service providing apparatus of the collation result via said communication network, and in accordance with the notification of the collation result from said user terminal, said service providing apparatus requests, via said communication network, said certificate authority to certify the validity of the collation result, and, if the validity of the collation result is certified by a certificate notified from said certificate authority, said service providing apparatus provides a predetermined service to the user on the basis of the collation result contained in the certificate.