Token-based system and method for secure authentication to a service provider

A method for authenticating a first party to a second party, comprising:

• requiring the first party to demonstrate knowledge of a secret shared between the first and second parties;
• requiring the first party to establish possession of a token;
• and
• requiring the first party to demonstrate ownership of said token.

A system, comprising:

• a plurality of service providers;
• a user registered with said plurality of service providers;
• and
• a device adapted to allow the user to obtain access to services from any of said service providers by releasing to that service provider a secret which is specific to that service provider and which is stored on the device;
• wherein the device is further adapted to obtain a first set of credentials from the user of the device and to compare the first set of credentials with a second set of credentials which are stored on the device and which were obtained from the owner of the device.

A device, comprising:

• a memory adapted to store the credentials of the device's owner therein, and being further adapted to store the owner's secrets from a plurality of service providers therein;
• an owner authentication engine which is adapted to capture and store credentials from the owner of the device, and which is further adapted to compare those credentials with the credentials of a current user of the device;
• an interface adapted to allow the device to communicate with the plurality of service providers over a network;
• and
• a request processing engine on the device, said request processing engine being adapted, upon a request from one of said service providers, to authenticate the owner, and being further adapted, upon successful authentication of the owner, to reveal the owner's secrets which correspond to that service provider.