Patent ID: 7971240

Claim:
A method for exchanging information in a multi-site authentication system having a first network server and a second network server coupled to a data communication network, said method comprising: receiving, from a client computing device via the first network server, a request for a service provided by the second network server; receiving, from the first network server, an authentication ticket along with the request, said authentication ticket including: a session key encrypted by a public key associated with the second network server; message content encrypted by the session key; and a signature generated by the first network server using a private key associated with the first network server to sign the encrypted session key and the encrypted message content, said signature including address information of the second network server; decrypting, at the second network server, the signature included in the authentication ticket using a public key associated with the first network server that corresponds to the private key used to generate the signature; identifying, at the second network server, the address information for the second network server in the verified signature to validate the signature included in the authentication ticket; verifying, at the second network server, the authentication ticket content based on the validated signature included in the authentication ticket; decrypting, at the second network server, the encrypted session key included in the authentication ticket via a private key associated with the second network server; and decrypting, at the second network server, the encrypted message content included in the authentication ticket via the decrypted session key.