Patent ID: 8078870

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer program instructions for processing messages exchanged between a requester and a server, the program instructions executable by a processor to perform actions including: a) receiving, from the server, a server message comprising one or more HTTP headers, the one or more HTTP headers including authentication specifications; b) in response to receiving the server message, generating a request message that complies with the authentication specifications, the request message comprising: i) a plurality of HTTP headers; ii) a security token including a cryptographic key, the security token complying with a security token specification in the authentication specifications; and iii) an HTTP token location header, of the plurality of HTTP headers, including a security token location specification, the security token location specification identifying a location of the security token; v) an HTTP security header, of the plurality of HTTP headers, including a digital signature; c) selectively determining the location of the security token to be in a message body; d) selectively determining the location of the security token to be in the plurality of HTTP token headers; and e) generating a digital signature of at least a portion of the request message based on a signature specification of the authentication specifications, and inserting the digital signature into the HTTP security header.