Attachmate Corporation

Dan Brombaugh

Sharon Xia

Eduardo Muñoz

Sharon (Hong) Xia

A management server acts as a repository for a plurality of user certificates corresponding to a plurality of users. When a user wishes to access a remote computer such as a secure-enabled host requiring a secure credential, his/her computer sends a request message to the management server. The management server may perform its own validity checking. In response to a request and conditioned on the management server authorizing access to a computing resource that requires an authorization credential, the management server delivers the requested credential and executable code, the authorization credential comprising information that enables access to the computing resource and the delivered executable code manages the lifecycle of the delivered authorization credential by allowing only temporary storage without caching of the delivered authorization credential.

Computer-based dynamic secure non-cached delivery of security credentials such as digitally signed certificates or keys

A management server manufactures a secure, tamper-resistant token for a particular user specifying the permissions and authorizations that user possesses. The token may be in the form of a digitally-signed message specifying, for example, a particular computer and associated port number that the user is permitted to access. The management server delivers the token to the user, preferably over a secure communications session. When challenged, the user presents the secure token to the security proxy server. The security proxy server examines the token to be sure it is authentic and has not be tampered with, and then extracts information contained in the token to determine the user's authorization to access a particular computer, particular port number and/or other resource. The security proxy server then establishes authorized communication with the authorized computing resource based on the information contained in the user's token, and thereafter may act in one embodiment as essentially a passthrough or proxy for permitting the user to access and communicate with the resource.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Dan Brombaugh