Patent ID: 8087070

Claim:
A method, in an application server, for providing a set of authorized users secure access to a plurality of applications, the method comprising: responsive to receiving, by a server credentials generator in a plurality of credential mechanisms, a user's identity of a user in the set of authorized users, an identified application from a set of applications in the plurality of applications that are accessible by the user, and a password, identifying, by the server credentials generator, a current event, an event preceding the current event, and an event succeeding the current event, from a set of periodic events; retrieving, by the server credentials generator, a set of stored passwords from a credentials store, wherein a first stored password within the set of stored passwords is associated with the identified application, the user's identity, and the current event, wherein a second stored password within the set of stored passwords is associated with the identified application, the user's identity, and the event preceding the current event, and wherein a third stored password within the set of stored passwords is associated with the identified application, the user's identity, and the event succeeding the current event; responsive to the password matching the first stored password associated with the current event, granting, by the server credentials generator, access to the identified application; responsive to the password failing to match the first stored password associated with the current event, determining, by the server credentials generator, whether the password matches either the second stored password associated with the event preceding the current event or the third stored password associated with the event succeeding the current event; and responsive to either the password matching the second stored password associated with the event preceding the current event or the third stored password associated with the event succeeding the current event, granting, by the server credentials generator, access to the identified application.