Patent ID: 8689294

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for managing offline authentication, the method comprising: identifying an attempt, by a user, to access a client device, wherein accessing the client device requires the user to be authenticated; in response to identifying the attempt to access the client device, determining that the client device is offline; in response to determining that the client device is offline: authenticating the user using offline authentication, wherein offline authentication does not require an active network connection with a remote authentication service; upon successful authentication of the user using offline authentication, allowing the user to access the client device; while the user is allowed to access the client device, monitoring a network-connection state of the client device; while monitoring the network-connection state of the client device, detecting that the client device is online; in response to detecting that the client device is online, locking the client device in order to require the user to reauthenticate using online authentication, wherein online authentication requires the active network connection with the remote authentication service; wherein the identifying, determining, authenticating, allowing, monitoring, detecting, and locking steps are executed on a processor of the client device.