Abstract: A system determines whether to grants access to a network server by a user. Initially, a user attempts to gain access to a network server, such as a web server. Prior to granting access to the network server, the network server authenticates the user by sending an authentication request to an authentication server. The authentication server determines whether the user was already authenticated by the authentication server. If the user was already authenticated by the authentication server, then the network server is notified that the user is authenticated. The network server then grants the user access to the network server. If the user was not already authenticated by the authentication server, then login information is retrieved from the user and compared to authentication information maintained by the authentication server. If the retrieved login information matches the authentication information, then the network server is notified that the user is authenticated.