Systems and methods for delegating access to online accounts
AssigneeSymantec Corporation
InventorsKeith Newstadt, Shaun Cooley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Computer-implemented methods for delegating access to online accounts and for facilitating delegates' access to these online accounts are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for delegating access to an online account comprises receiving a request to delegate access to a first online account to a first delegate, identifying the first online account, identifying a contact record for the first delegate, and delegating access to the first online account to the first delegate by associating the contact record for the first delegate with the first online account. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
Claims17
A computer-implemented method for delegating access to online accounts, at least a portion of the method being performed by a server-side computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:
- receiving, at the server-side computing device, at least one request from an account owner to delegate access to at least one online account of the account owner, wherein the online account is provided by an online service and the request specifies at least one delegate that is to receive access to the online account;
- delegating access to the online account to the delegate specified in the request by:
- identifying, at the server-side computing device, a contact record for the delegate;
- associating, at the server-side computing device, the contact record for the delegate with the online account;
- enabling the delegate to access the online account using the account owner's existing online-account credentials for accessing the online account without exposing the account owner's existing online-account credentials to the delegate by:
- receiving, at the server-side computing device, a request to access the online account from a browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device, the request comprising user-account-authentication information for authenticating the delegate with the server-side computing device;
- using the user-account-authentication information to authenticate the delegate at the server-side computing device;
- identifying, at the server-side computing device, the account owner's existing online-account credentials for accessing the online account;
- providing the account owner's existing online-account credentials from the server-side computing device to the browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device to enable the browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device to automatically log into the online account using the account owner's existing online-account credentials without exposing the account owner's existing online-account credentials for the online account to the delegate.
A system for delegating access to online accounts, the system comprising:
- a delegation module programmed to cause a server-side computing device to:
- receive, at the server-side computing device, at least one request from an account owner to delegate access to at least one online account of the account owner, wherein the online account is provided by an online service and the request specifies at least one delegate that is to receive access to the online account;
- delegate access to the online account to the delegate specified in the request by:
- identifying, at the server-side computing device, a contact record for the delegate;
- associating, at the server-side computing device, the contact record for the delegate with the online account;
- enable the delegate to access the online account using the account owner's existing online-account credentials for accessing the online account without exposing the account owner's existing online-account credentials to the delegate by:
- receiving, at the server-side computing device, a request to access the online account from a browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device, the request comprising user-account-authentication information for authenticating the delegate with the server-side computing device;
- using the user-account-authentication information to authenticate the delegate at the server-side computing device;
- identifying, at the server-side computing device, the account owner's existing online-account credentials for accessing the online account;
- providing the account owner's existing online-account credentials from the server-side computing device to the browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device to enable the browser plug-in running on the delegate's computing device to automatically log into the online account using the account owner's existing online-account credentials without exposing the account owner's existing online-account credentials for the online account to the delegate;
- at least one processor configured to execute the delegation module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.