Patent ID: 7636853

Claim:
A method in a computing environment for maintaining security and access to a plurality of networked devices, comprising: accepting a user identification that has been input by a user via one of a plurality of authentication devices to access a device, wherein said device is one of said plurality of networked devices; determining a persona related to the user, wherein said persona indicates a user-role indicative of the accessibility of one or more devices in said plurality of networked devices; storing an indication of said persona; assigning a persona surety level to said persona, the persona surety level comprising a dynamic value indicative of the probability that the user is who the user claims to be; applying a rate of decay to said dynamic value, wherein said rate of decay is based, in part, on the input method of the authentication device accepting the user identification and the time stamp; assigning a surety level to said user identification, wherein said surety level depends on the input method of the authentication device accepting the user identification; utilizing said user identification, said persona surety level, and said surety level to grant or deny access to said device; and if access to said device is denied, displaying to the user a location of another authentication device within close proximity to the device for the user to access the device.