Patent ID: 7539310

Claim:
A method of managing keys used to decrypt tickets for authenticating with a website, the method comprising: receiving a first key with a first version number; encrypting the first key using a hardware address of an end user device; changing a current key variable to the first version number to identify the first key as a current key; setting a time for the first key when the first key is no longer accepted by the website, wherein the time is set to a reauthorization time determined by the website; receiving a second key with an incremented version number; encrypting the second key using a hardware address of the end user device, the hardware address used to encrypt the second key being either a same or a different hardware address than the hardware address used to encrypt the first key; and identifying the second key as the current key, wherein the first and second keys comprise key data and executable code for decrypting tickets, wherein the first and second keys are sent to the website from an authentication server, wherein the first and second keys are concurrently valid for the website for a coexistence period, and wherein each ticket comprises (1) a timestamp corresponding to when an end user last provided authenticating information and (2) a timestamp corresponding to when the authentication server last refreshed the authenticating information of the end user with the website.