Patent ID: 8302153

Claim:
An access system, comprising: a certificate authentication component to verify a user's identity from a digital certificate supplied by the user, a directory, coupled to the certificate authentication component, to maintain an account for each individual user, each account containing an access policy specifying at least one portion of a computer site to which the corresponding user is permitted access, the computer site being divided into isolated subnets, each at least one portion included in one of the subnets, each account further containing at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address and a certificate authorization method associated with the user, and an access control system, in computer hardware coupled to the directory, for controlling access to the computer site by permitting the user to access one or more of the subnets including one of said each at least one portion of the computer site and restricting the user from accessing at least one other portion of the computer site, based on the access policy associated with the individual user in the directory, wherein the access policy is used to provide tiered access for different sets of users to a plurality of security levels.