Abstract: Techniques for transaction-specific authentication. An access manager receives information for a transaction. The information can be received in an authentication request from an application that is to perform the transaction or received as part of a transaction request. The information identifies an attribute associated with the transaction and includes a value for the attribute. The access manager uses the value to generate a first one-time password (OTP). The first OTP is compared to a second OTP received from a client device of a user who requested the transaction. Matching of the first OTP and the second OTP indicates that the value received in the information for the transaction matches a value provided by the user to the client device. Based on determining that the first OTP matches the second OTP, the access manager transmits an indication to the application that the user is successfully authenticated for the transaction.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed to modify the authentication level of a session providing access to resources. In some embodiments, an access management system is configurable to enable voluntary (e.g., request by a user) or involuntary (e.g., by the access management system) reduce, or “step-down” the authentication level for a session if a lower authentication level exists. For example, an access management system may be configured to enable a user to request a step-down of the authentication level of a session to prevent access to resources at a higher authentication level. By reducing the authentication level to a lower authentication level, a user may be prompted to provide credentials for authentication according to the authentication schemes defined for higher authentication levels. These techniques can reduce, if not prevent, unauthorized access to protected resources by challenging a user for credentials to authenticate to higher authentication levels.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing and/or implementing utilizing declarative techniques for transaction-specific authentication. Certain techniques are disclosed herein that enable transaction signing using modular authentication via declarative requests from applications. An application can declaratively specify one or more transaction factor values to be used in an authentication, and the authentication, using a transaction-signed one-time password, can be directed by an access manager module without further involvement of the application. Upon a successful or non-successful authentication, the access manager module can provide the result back to the application. Accordingly, an authentication process specific to (and valid only for) a particular transaction can be performed without direct involvement of the application and without application-centric knowledge required by the access manager module.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for enabling a user to validate the authenticity of a computing system (e.g., an access management system) such as one which controls access to one or more resources. A user can determine the authenticity of an access management system before the user provides credential information to the access management system. A user can be presented at a client system with an interface to request authentication of an access management system. The access management system may provide the user at the client system with temporary access information to submit back to the access management system. The access management system may provide recent personal information to the user at the client system to verify the access management system. Upon verification of the personal information, the access management system may prompt the user for credential information to establish a session.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for protecting a user from denial of service (DOS) to access his/her a user account that has been locked. An access management system can provide features that enable an owner of an account to prevent the account from becoming locked. Specifically, the techniques disclosed herein enable an account holder to circumvent procedures of the access management system that lock an account after several unsuccessful attempts to access the account. The access management system may operate according to a configuration for managing access to account. The access management system can manage access to an account by presenting a user with an interface to received access information (e.g., account information and credential information) for the account to determine whether to unlock the account. The access management system can deny access to an account upon determining that the credential information is not correct for the account.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for enabling a user to validate the authenticity of a computing system (e.g., an access management system) such as one which controls access to one or more resources. A user can determine the authenticity of an access management system before the user provides credential information to the access management system. A user can be presented at a client system with an interface to request authentication of an access management system. The access management system may provide the user at the client system with temporary access information to submit back to the access management system. The access management system may provide recent personal information to the user at the client system to verify the access management system. Upon verification of the personal information, the access management system may prompt the user for credential information to establish a session.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing users of an access management system the capability to manage the user's active sessions. The system may receive a first request by a user at a first device to modify one or more sessions established for the user. The system may access session information about the one or more sessions that are associated with the user, wherein a session of the one or more sessions provides the user with access to one or more resources. The system may send the session information to the first device, the session information causing the first device to display a graphical interface including the session information about the one or more sessions. The system may receive, from the first device, a second request indicating a modification to the session. The system may modify the session in accordance with the modification indicated in the second request.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for protecting a user from denial of service (DOS) to access his/her a user account that has been locked. An access management system can provide features that enable an owner of an account to prevent the account from becoming locked. Specifically, the techniques disclosed herein enable an account holder to circumvent procedures of the access management system that lock an account after several unsuccessful attempts to access the account. The access management system may operate according to a configuration for managing access to account. The access management system can manage access to an account by presenting a user with an interface to received access information (e.g., account information and credential information) for the account to determine whether to unlock the account. The access management system can deny access to an account upon determining that the credential information is not correct for the account.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed to modify the authentication level of a session providing access to resources. In some embodiments, an access management system is configurable to enable voluntary (e.g., request by a user) or involuntary (e.g., by the access management system) reduce, or “step-down” the authentication level for a session if a lower authentication level exists. For example, an access management system may be configured to enable a user to request a step-down of the authentication level of a session to prevent access to resources at a higher authentication level. By reducing the authentication level to a lower authentication level, a user may be prompted to provide credentials for authentication according to the authentication schemes defined for higher authentication levels. These techniques can reduce, if not prevent, unauthorized access to protected resources by challenging a user for credentials to authenticate to higher authentication levels.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for facilitating impersonation for accessing resources through an access management system. When a user (“impersonator”) requests access to impersonate another user (“impersonatee”), the access management system may generate security data having two parts. One part may include a first security key that is sent to the impersonator and a second part may include a second security key that is sent to the impersonatee. Receipt of the second security key notifies the impersonatee about a request for impersonation to access a resource according to access permitted to the impersonatee. The impersonatee, if consenting to impersonation, may provide the security key received to the impersonator, thereby implicitly providing the impersonator with trust at run-time to access the resource. Upon verification of both security keys, by the access management system, access to a resource is provided to the impersonator based on access to the resource permitted to the impersonatee.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for enabling a user to validate the authenticity of a computing system (e.g., an access management system) such as one which controls access to one or more resources. A user can determine the authenticity of an access management system before the user provides credential information to the access management system. A user can be presented at a client system with an interface to request authentication of an access management system. The access management system may provide the user at the client system with temporary access information to submit back to the access management system. The access management system may provide recent personal information to the user at the client system to verify the access management system. Upon verification of the personal information, the access management system may prompt the user for credential information to establish a session.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for of constructing a whitelist of redirection uniform resource locators (URLs). A method can include receiving, by a computing system executing an access manager application, a request to log out a user from an application executing on a device; determining, by the access manager application, a redirection address for the application; validating, by the access manager application, the redirection address; and based on the validation, causing, by the access manager application, the application to perform one of redirecting the user to the redirection address and determining addition of the redirection address to a list of valid redirection addresses.

Abstract: A method of applying a timeout protocol by an access manager to a plurality of resources may include storing the timeout protocol comprising at least one criterion, and receiving a request for a first resource. Each of the resources can be segregated into separate application domains, the first resource can be associated with a first attribute, and the first attribute can be assigned a first value. The method may also include determining that the first value satisfies the at least one criterion, associating the timeout protocol with the first resource, and associating the timeout protocol with each resource that is associated with the first attribute assigned a value that satisfies the at least one criterion. The method may further include granting access to the first resource according to the timeout protocol.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for restricting access to resources accessible in a SSO session. An access management system may provide access one or more resources by implementing an SSO system to provide a SSO session. An SSO session may provide an authenticated user with access to protected resources to which the user is entitled to access. In some instances, a user sharing a computer with other users may want to access a particular protected resource so as to restrict other users sharing the computer from accessing other protected resources accessible to the user in an SSO session. The access management system may enable the user to dynamically choose, such as during login, the protected resources which to restrict and/or permit. Upon successful authentication, a session may be established for only those protected resources that are permitted based on the user's selection, while the other resources are restricted.

Abstract: Various arrangements for providing authentication information to a user are presented. A single-point authentication manager executed by a computer system may receive a request to access a resource from a remote client computer system. The single-point authentication manager may manage access to a plurality of resources including the resource. The single-point authentication manager may perform authentication using an authentication plug-in. In response to performing authentication of the user, the authentication plug-in may generate a parameter having a value that is a message to be transmitted to the remote client computer system. In response to receiving the parameter and the value from the authentication plug-in, the single-point authentication manager may transmit the value of the parameter to the application if the authentication is successful and to a credential collector if the authentication of the user failed.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing and/or implementing utilizing declarative techniques for transaction-specific authentication. Certain techniques are disclosed herein that enable transaction signing using modular authentication via declarative requests from applications. An application can declaratively specify one or more transaction factor values to be used in an authentication, and the authentication, using a transaction-signed one-time password, can be directed by an access manager module without further involvement of the application. Upon a successful or non-successful authentication, the access manager module can provide the result back to the application. Accordingly, an authentication process specific to (and valid only for) a particular transaction can be performed without direct involvement of the application and without application-centric knowledge required by the access manager module.

Abstract: A method for detecting changes in a computing environment. In an example embodiment, the method includes observing a file system of the computing environment during a predetermined time interval and providing a signal when a predetermined change to the file system is detected during the predetermined time interval; employing the signal to log a description of detected file system changes; and using a logged description of the file system changes to perform an incremental crawl of the file system. In a more specific embodiment, the predetermined time interval includes an interval of time between crawls of the file system. The predetermined change to the file system includes a change to content of a file included in the file system, a change in user access rights to a file, a change in a location of a file of the file system, a change in a folder of the file system, a deletion of a file or folder in the file system, and so on.

Abstract: An aspect of the present invention facilitates flexible credential collection in an authentication server employing diverse authentication schemes. In an embodiment, an access manager in the authentication server determines that an authentication scheme is to be used for allowing access to a resource requested by a user. A custom module (implementing the authentication scheme) in the authentication server then sends to the access manager commands indicating corresponding sets of credentials to be collected. The access manager, in response to receiving each command, collects the corresponding credentials from the user and checks whether the collected credentials authenticates the user. The custom module sends each command after the checking of the previously collected credentials. Accordingly, a developer of the custom module is enabled to request for and to perform the authentication of the user based on different sets of credentials.

Abstract: A method of dynamically communicating a parameter during runtime may include providing a script to a command-line scripting module that uses the parameter, where the parameter is to be provided during runtime by a user and the script is configured to generate an exception including an identifier associated with the parameter. The method may also include generating byte code based on the script, executing the byte code on a virtual machine until the exception is generated, passing the exception to the command-line scripting module, causing, by the command-line scripting module, receiving a parameter value from the user through an input device, passing the parameter value to the virtual machine, and continuing execution of the byte code on the virtual machine.

Abstract: Various arrangements for providing authentication information to a user are presented. A single-point authentication manager executed by a computer system may receive a request to access a resource from a remote client computer system. The single-point authentication manager may manage access to a plurality of resources including the resource. The single-point authentication manager may communicate with an authentication plug-in application that performs a type of authentication. Authentication of the user may be performed. In response to performing authentication of the user, the authentication plug-in application may generate a message to be transmitted to the remote client computer system. The message may include an indication that the message is to be passed to the remote client computer system and information regarding the authentication of the user. In response to receiving the message from the authentication plug-in application, the message may be transmitted to the remote client computer system.