Patent ID: 8875229

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request to access a virtual private network (VPN) from a user, the request including a user identification; receiving metadata of the request to access the VPN, the metadata including: confirmation of the user identification by an entity physically proximate the user, the entity physically proximate to the user including a coworker of the user, and a VPN tunnel endpoint; querying a database with the user identification and the metadata to identify relationship data, the relationship data indicating a relationship between an individual assigned the user identification and the VPN, wherein the relationship data includes a degree of risk of compromise; inputting the relationship data into a rules engine; and selecting at least one security measure with the rules engine based on the relationship data, wherein said selecting of the at least one security measure includes: selecting a greater security measure the farther the relationship between the individual assigned the user identification and the VPN, and selecting a lesser security measure the closer the relationship between the individual assigned the user identification and the VPN.