Patent ID: 8255318

Claim:
A method of authenticating an applicant, the method comprising: obtaining, by a host computer system, a transaction history of transactions performed on an account held by the applicant and for which the applicant has been previously authenticated, the transaction history comprising information about each transaction; identifying, by the host computer system, one or more patterns or anomalies in the transaction history; asking, by the host computer system over an electronic network, the applicant one or more questions relating to the information about one or more transactions in the history, the host computer system framing at least one of the one or more questions so as to test the applicant's knowledge of the one or more patterns or anomalies; receiving, by the host computer system, from the applicant answers to the one or more questions; and indicating, by the host computer system, based at least in part on the one or more answers received and the transaction history, whether the applicant is authenticated.