Patent ID: 8732461

Claim:
A client apparatus, comprising: a certificate storage device which stores a client certificate including a public key; a private key storage device which stores a private key associated with the public key; and a biometric authentication method storage device which stores biometric authentication method information indicating a biometric authentication method of a biometric authentication device, the biometric authentication device configured to perform biometric authentication on a user; a computer connected to the storage devices and configured to comprise: a device configured to perform, before secret communication is performed by an operation by the user with a server apparatus over a network, an agreement process including mutual certificate authentication with the server apparatus, and when a result of the certificate authentication indicates valid, a session for performing the secret communication can be established; a device configured to receive a message including a random number from the server apparatus during the agreement process; a device configured to create, after receiving the message, a biometric negotiation message including the biometric authentication method information and send the biometric negotiation message to the server apparatus; a device configured to activate, after sending the biometric negotiation message, the biometric authentication device based on biometric authentication method information notified from the server apparatus; a device configured to encrypt the random number based on the private key and thereby generate an encrypted random number; a device configured to generate an authenticator from information guaranteeing validity of a result of the biometric authentication by the biometric authentication device and a process thereof, the biometric authentication method information, the encrypted random number, and the client certificate, based on the private key; and a device configured to send to the server apparatus an authentication context including the information guaranteeing validity of a result of the biometric authentication and a process thereof, the biometric authentication method information, the encrypted random number, the client certificate, and the authenticator and thereby continue the agreement process.