Patent ID: 8407475

Claim:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor, performs an operation of for establishing credentials useable to authenticate a user of a communication network, the operation comprising: receiving a first value from a user station associated with the user, via the communication network, wherein the first value represents a user credential; generating a first key portion based on the first value and a second value that is unknown to the user, wherein the first key portion, along with a second key portion, is used for authenticating credentials of the user, wherein the second key portion is generated based on the first key portion; generating a cookie that includes the second value or a value derived from the second value; transmitting the cookie to the user station; and destroying the first and second values so that the second value is inaccessible to the user station and an authenticating station configured to authenticate the user; transmitting the first value and the cookie from the user station to an authenticating entity; and authenticating, by the authenticating entity, the user associated with the user station.