Managing security credentials
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDarren Ernest Canavor, Jesper Mikael Johannson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are various embodiments for managing security credentials. In one embodiment, knowledge-based questions are selected in response to failing to receive a valid master security credential in a request to authenticate a user account for access to account data. In response to receiving the request, the plurality of knowledge-based questions are provided to an application. Answers to the knowledge-based questions are received and scored. Access is granted to establish a new master security credential based at least in part on the score meeting or exceeding a predetermined threshold.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- receiving, via at least one of one or more computing devices, a request to authenticate a user account, the request comprising a master security credential, a valid master security credential being employed to authenticate the user account for access to a plurality of security credentials;
- determining, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, that the master security credential is invalid;
- determining, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, to generate a plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions instead of retrieving static knowledge-based questions, the determination being based at least in part on a sufficiency of user data associated with the user account;
- generating, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions in an instance in which the master security credential is invalid;
- providing, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions to an application executing on a client device;
- generating, via the at least one of the one or more computing devices, a score based at least in part on a comparison of a plurality of received answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions with a plurality of valid answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions, the plurality of received answers being received from the application;
- and
- in response to determining that the score meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold, granting, via the at least one of the one or more computing devices, access to reset a master security credential associated with the user account.
A system, comprising:
- at least one computing device;
- and
- a manager executable in the at least one computing device, wherein, when executed, the manager causes the at least one computing device to at least:
- receive a request to authenticate a user account, the request comprising a master security credential, a valid master security credential being employed to authenticate the user account for access to account data associated with a user account;
- determine to generate a plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions instead of retrieving static knowledge-based questions, the determination being based at least in part on a sufficiency of user data associated with the user account;
- generate the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions in an instance in which the master security credential is invalid;
- generate a user interface comprising the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions;
- receive a plurality of knowledge-based answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions from a client device;
- generate a score based at least in part on the plurality of received knowledge-based answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions;
- and
- in response to determining that the score meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold, perform an action comprising at least one of:
- establishing a new master security credential as the valid master security credential or providing access to the account data for a predetermined number of minutes.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying specific instructions that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to at least:
- receive a request for account data required to access a network site, the request being received from an application executing on a client device, and the request comprising a master security credential, a valid master security credential employed to authenticate a user account for access to the account data;
- determine to generate a plurality of dynamic knowledge based questions instead of retrieving static knowledge-based questions, the determination being based at least in part on a sufficiency of user data associated with the user account;
- generate the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions in an instance in which the master security credential is invalid;
- provide the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions to the application;
- generate a score based at least in part on a comparison of a plurality of received answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions with a plurality of valid answers to the plurality of dynamic knowledge-based questions, the plurality of received answers being received from the application;
- and
- in response to determining that the score meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold, perform an action comprising at least one of resetting the master security credential or providing the application with access to the account data for a predetermined number of minutes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.