Patent ID: 7673332

Claim:
A system for authentication comprising: a shared services resource comprising a second factor authentication module; and a plurality of network resources each comprising a first factor authentication module; and a trusted computing base to: verify a domain name of a first network resource; communicate with the shared services resource and the plurality of network resources through a pipe; provide only a first factor authentication corresponding to the first network resource of the plurality of network resources based on a first request from the first network resource, the first request from the first network resource indicating a first access condition consisting of a first factor authentication; and provide: another first factor authentication corresponding to a second network resource of the plurality of network resources, and a second factor authentication to the second network resource based on a second request from the second network resource, the second request indicating a second access condition consisting of a first factor authentication and a second factor authentication, the shared services resource to verify the second factor authentication using the second factor authentication module and to return a validated assertion to the trusted computing base, the validated assertion subsequently provided to said second network resource through the pipe to enable a user to access the second network resource.