Secure authentication to provide mobile access to shared network resources

A system to provide mobile access to content, comprising:

• a communication interface;
• and
• a hardware processor coupled to the communication interface and configured to:
• receive at a connector node via the communication interface, from a mobile application running on a mobile device, a user credential associated with a request to access content;
• authenticate a user associated with the request using the user credential and a copy of an active directory stored at the connector node, wherein the active directory is stored at a location separate from the connector node;
• use the user credential to create at the connector node a secure credential token that includes the user credential;
• use the secure credential token to provide to the mobile application on the mobile device, via the connector node, access to content on two or more servers in a manner that is consistent with privileges associated with the authenticated user, wherein the two or more servers are separate from the connector node and residing on a protected network with which the user credential is associated;
• and
• provide metadata to the mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide access to the content based on one or more restrictions included in the metadata, wherein the metadata at least indicates a type of application that may access the content.

A computer program product to provide mobile access to content, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

• receiving at a connector node, from a mobile application running on a mobile device, a user credential associated with a request to access content;
• authenticating a user associated with the request using the user credential and a copy of an active directory stored at the connector node, wherein the active directory is stored at a location separate from the connector node;
• using the user credential to create at the connector node a secure credential token includes the user credential;
• using the secure credential token to provide to the mobile application on the mobile device, via the connector node, access to content on two or more servers in a manner that is consistent with privileges associated with the authenticated user, wherein the two or more servers are separate from the connector node and residing on a protected network with which the user credential is associated;
• and
• providing metadata to the mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide access to the content based on one or more restrictions included in the metadata, wherein the metadata at least indicates a type of application that may access the content.