Patent ID: 7330871

Claim:
A process for use in identifying a customer computer involved in an online transaction via a merchant web site between a customer using a customer browser operating on said customer computer and a merchant who operates said merchant web site, in order to monitor for possible fraudulent transactions using the computer, said method comprising the steps of: said merchant web site providing to said customer browser a redirect script request within a transaction form of said merchant web site, wherein said redirect script causes said customer browser to communicate to an archiver web site of a machine data archiving service an electronic request for a machine data collection script; said archiver web site returning said machine data collection script to said customer browser along with a transaction identification string, wherein said machine data collection script causes said customer browser processing said machine data collection script to cause said customer browser to query said customer computer for a machine fingerprint of said customer computer, wherein said machine fingerprint comprises a hashed attribute string associated with one or more attributes of said customer computer, and wherein said machine data collection script causes said customer browser to communicate said machine fingerprint and said transaction identification string to said archiver web site, and said archiver web site storing said machine fingerprint and said transaction identification string in a machine data profile as an archiver record; wherein said machine data collection script also causes said customer browser to write said transaction identification string into said transaction form; said merchant web site receiving from said customer browser customer identification information with said transaction form to thereby comprise a transaction record, and storing the transaction record with the transaction identification string as a merchant record; whereby said transaction identification string associates said transaction record with said machine fingerprint; and monitoring for possible fraudulent transactions, wherein said monitoring is based at least in part on said machine fingerprint.