Patent ID: 8190883

Claim:
A method of managing network identities, comprising: receiving a request at an identity registry to add a first network identity to a user record, wherein the first network identity includes at least an identifier used to identify the first network identity to a server computer of a remote first service provider separate from the identity registry; sending, from the identity registry and to a requester of the request, a random challenge generated by the identity registry, wherein the random challenge comprises a graphic image of at least one of a random number and a random text string; receiving the random challenge at the identity registry from the first service provider after the requestor has forwarded the challenge to the first service provider; and adding the first network identity to the user record when the random challenge received at the identity registry from the first service provider matches the challenge forwarded to the first service provider, wherein the random challenge is received from the first service provider as a corresponding one of a random number and a random text string not in the form of a graphic image.