Patent ID: 7921290

Claim:
A system for facilitating access to a network-based service offered by a service provider, the system comprising: a network connection program configured, to execute in one or more processors, to receive a user credential for use in accessing the network-based service, wherein the user credential was not issued by the service provider; convert the user credential into an encrypted credential using an encryption method that requires a private key to decrypt the encrypted credential, and wherein the private key is unknown to the service provider; convert the encrypted credential into a plain text credential by application of a character encoding scheme to the encrypted credential, wherein the plain text format is required by one or more standardized network authentication protocols; and transmit, via the one or more standardized network authentication protocols, the plain text credential to the service provider; a decryption server, having the one or more processors, configured to receive, via the one or more standardized network authentication protocols, the plain text credential from the service provider; convert the plain text credential back into the encrypted credential by application of the character encoding scheme; convert the encrypted credential back into the user credential based on the private key; and transmit, via the one or more standardized network authentication protocols, the user credential for authentication.