Patent ID: 8151116

Claim:
An authorization server to facilitate authentication of a user requesting access to an access restricted resource, the authorization server comprising: one or more hardware processors being configured to execute: a validation software subroutine that receives a user identifier for a user that is requesting access to an access restricted resource from a client computing device, the user identifier being received over a first communication channel comprising a direct communication channel in conjunction with the request to access the access restricted resource, wherein the validation software subroutine further determines if the user identifier is a valid identifier corresponding to an electronic address; a token generation software subroutine that generates a plurality of authentication tokens, including a cookie and an electronic message token, to be distributed over different communication channels; a token distribution software subroutine that sends, in response to the validation software subroutine validating the user identifier, the cookie over the first communication channel to the client computing device, and sends the electronic message token over a second communication channel to a messaging server that provides a messaging service to the user using the electronic address, thereby determining that the electronic address exists, is valid, and uniquely identifies the user, the second communication channel thereby comprising an indirect communication channel for communicating with the client computing device; and a token validation software subroutine configured to authenticate the client computing device to authorize access to the access restricted resource when receiving both the cookie and the electronic message token such that access to the access restricted resource requires receipt of the cookie and the electronic message token which were distributed over different communication channels, the electronic message token having been automatically collected and submitted at the client computing device.