Patent ID: 7055032

Claim:
A system for accessing multiple different network stations without entry of a password, comprising: a first network station representing a network entity and configured to transmit a request for authentication of a user seeking access, the user having an associated password, an associated user identifier, and an associated asymmetric crypto-key, including a first private key portion obtainable with the password, a second private key portion and having the user identifier, the combination symmetric crypto-key, the first symmetric crypto-key, and the second private key portion stored thereat, and configured to (i) retrieve the stored combination symmetric crypto-key by matching the transmitted user identifier with the stored user identifier, (ii) verify the MAC with the retrieved combination symmetric crypto-key to verify identity of the user, (iii) decrypt the transmitted encrypted authentication request with the retrieved combination symmetric crypto-key to recover the authentication request, (iv) encrypt the recovered authentication request with the stored second private key portion and (v) transmit a public key portion; a second network station representing the user, and having the user identifier, a combination symmetric crypto-key corresponding to a first symmetric crypto-key and a second symmetric crypto-key, and the obtained first private key portion encrypted with the first symmetric crypto-key stored thereat, and configured to (i) transmit the stored user identifier message authenticated coded with the stored combination symmetric crypto-key responsive to the transmitted authentication request, and (ii) transmit the transmitted authentication request encrypted with the stored combination symmetric crypto-key; and a third network station, representing a sponsor, the encrypted authentication request and the first symmetric crypto-key, both encrypted with the retrieved combination symmetric crypto-key; wherein the second network station is further configured to (i) decrypt the transmitted encrypted authentication request and first symmetric crypto-key, with the stored combination symmetric crypto-key to recover the encrypted authentication request and the first symmetric crypto-key, (ii) decrypt the stored encrypted first private key portion with the recovered first symmetric crypto-key to recover the first private key portion, (iii) to transmit the recovered encrypted authentication request further encrypted with the recovered first private key portion; and wherein the first station is further configured to decrypt the transmitted further encrypted authentication request with the public key to thereby authenticate the user.