Patent ID: 7979899

Claim:
A method of performing multiple-factor authentication of a user within an account network, the method comprising: receiving user credentials of the user and device credentials generated by a device employed by the user to access the account network; associating a user identifier of the user credentials with a device identifier of the device credentials to represent a trust relationship between the user and the device; evaluating the user credentials and the device credentials to generate verification results; providing evidence of identity of the user based on the verification results of both the user credentials and the device credentials; blocking an attempt by the user to change the user credentials and the device credentials if the user credentials are successfully verified but the device credentials are not successfully verified; granting a higher level of privilege if the evidence of identity of both the user credentials and the device credentials indicate successful verification and granting a lower level of privilege if the evidence of identity of either of the user credentials and the device credentials indicates unsuccessful verification.