Patent ID: 8566957

Claim:
An authentication system for authenticating the identity of a requester of access to a secured resource, said authentication system comprising: a client gateway having a first set of instructions embodied in a computer readable medium, said first set of instructions operable to receive from a service client a request for access to a secured resource, said request for access having been submitted to said service client by a requester purporting to be an authorized user of said secured resource; a server in secure communication with said client gateway, said server having a second set of instructions embodied in a computer readable medium operable to generate a challenge string, said challenge string being a random string having a plurality of symbols, wherein at least one of the symbols of said challenge string is a specially designated symbol; a messaging gateway in secure communication with said server and connected to at least one other communication channel, said messaging gateway having a third set of instructions embodied in a computer readable medium operable to communicate said challenge string to said authorized user that said requester purports to be; wherein said first set of instructions is further operable to receive from said service client a response string corresponding to said challenge string; and wherein said second set of instructions is further operable to evaluate said response string to authenticate the identity of said requester; wherein: said secured resource comprises a common identifier by which said secured resource may be generally identified outside of said authentication system; and said request for access comprises insufficient content for said service client to determine said common identifier.