Patent ID: 8713656

Claim:
A method for authenticating the identity of a requester of access to a secured resource, said method for authenticating comprising the steps of: receiving with at least one server a request for access by an unauthorized user to a secured resource from a requester purporting to be an authorized user of said secured resource; generating a challenge string with said at least one server, said challenge string being a random string having a plurality of symbols, wherein at least one of the symbols of the challenge string is a null character, each null character being a specially designated symbol indicating the absence from said random string of a single symbol; communicating said challenge string to said authorized user that said requester purports to be; receiving from said unauthorized user a response string corresponding to said challenge string; evaluating said response string to authenticate the identity of said requester; and wherein said at least one server comprises at least one processor coupled to at least one processor-readable medium, said at least one processor-readable medium containing a request handler component and an authenticator component.