Patent ID: 8832788

Claim:
A method, implemented by a server computing system programmed to perform the following, comprising; receiving, by the server computing system, a request to initiate a human-assisted authentication of identity of a user; automatically contacting a plurality of trusted associates of the user based on policy data in response to the request, wherein the plurality of trusted associates ace humans identified in the policy data to be contacted to validate the identity of the user, wherein the automatically contacting the plurality of trusted associates comprises: selecting one of the plurality of trusted associates out of the plurality of trusted associates based on user account data; establishing a first private communication between the server computing system and the on associate of the plurality of trusted associates without interaction by the user, wherein the first private communication is a communication without any other party connected other than the on associate; and establishing a second communication between the server computing system, the user and the one associate; determining whether the plurality of trusted associates validate the identity of the user, wherein the determining comprises receiving an input from the one associate indicating whether or not the identity of the user is validated during the second communication, wherein the validation is based on receiving a correct answer from the user to a question asked by the one associate; and providing one-time passwords to the user for trusted associates that have validated the identity of the user, wherein the one-time passwords provided to the user are subsequently combined to form an authentication password used to determine whether the user is allowed to perform an action.