Patent ID: 8290152

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium not consisting of a propagating signal, the computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising: generating a generic key identifier based on an original web service key for a web service, wherein the web service is a function that is called over the Internet, and wherein the generic key identifier is an encrypted version of the original web service key; saving the original web service key and tracked information regarding an associated intended server in a secure storage device, the original web service key retrievable based on the generic key identifier; saving the generic key identifier within a source code of an application being developed; and upon receiving a request to run the application, transforming the generic key identifier back into the original web service key prior to calling the web service, wherein the transforming stage is operable to lookup the original web service key in the secure storage device based on the generic key identifier and ensure that the original web service key is only sent to the intended server based on the tracked information.