Patent ID: 8250632

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for generating user authentication challenges performed by one or more computing devices, the method comprising: receiving, at the one or more computing devices, an authentication request from a user, wherein the authentication request includes primary authentication information and secondary authentication information; in response to receiving the authentication request, detecting, by the one or more computing devices, a potentially fraudulent authentication attempt based on one or more of the secondary authentication information and a failed authentication attempt, wherein the failed authentication attempt is detected based on analyzing the primary authentication information; responsive to detecting the potentially fraudulent authentication attempt, identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more close contacts of an account owner using one or more factors; determining, by the one or more computing devices, one or more preferences of the one or more close contacts; generating, by the one or more computing devices, one or more authentication challenges based at least in part on at least one of the one or more preferences; sending, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more authentication challenges to the user; receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a response to the one or more authentication challenges from the user; and assessing, by the one or more computing devices, completion of the one or more authentication challenges based on the response from the user.