Embedded third-party application programming interface to prevent transmission of sensitive data

An identification-and-authentication system comprising:

• a processing device;
• a network communications port communicatively coupleable to a user device via a first communication channel and communicatively coupleable to a host computing system via a second communication channel that is out-of-band with respect to the first communication channel, the first communication channel being established via an application programming interface (“API”) embedded in a user interface, the user interface configured for being provided from the host computing system to the user device for accessing one or more functions of an interactive computing environment provided by the host computing system;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium included in or communicatively coupled to the processing device, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a data structure for storing user data records and instructions that are executable by the processing device to cause the identification-and-authentication system to:
• receive, by the network communications port via the first communication channel, a first signal from the user device via the API, the first signal including sensitive data that is associated with a user of the user device and that is used to request access to the one or more functions of the interactive computing environment, the sensitive data received by the API as part of information being provided to complete the electronic transaction;
• authenticate, by the processing device, the user based on the sensitive data;
• and
• transmit, by the network communications port via the second communication channel, a second signal to the host computing system, the second signal including validation data representing that the user is authenticated for accessing the one or more functions of an interactive computing environment.

A method for authenticating a user of a user device, the method including operations executed by one or more processing devices included in an identification-and-authentication system, the operations comprising:

• establishing a first communication channel to the user device and a second communication channel to a host computing system, wherein:
• the first communication channel is established via an application programming interface (“API”) embedded in a user interface, the user interface configured for being provided from the host computing system to the user device for accessing one or more functions of an interactive computing environment provided by the host computing system, and
• the second communication channel is out-of-band with respect to the first communication channel;
• receiving, via the first communication channel, a first signal from the user device via the API, the first signal including sensitive data that is associated with the user of the user device and that is used to request access to the one or more functions of the interactive computing environment, the sensitive data received by the API as part of information being provided to complete the electronic transaction;
• authenticating the user based on the sensitive data;
• and
• transmitting, via the second communication channel, a second signal to the host computing system, the second signal including validation data representing that the user is authenticated for accessing the one or more functions of an interactive computing environment.