Using trusted communication channel to combat user name/password theft

摘要

A technique for defining a system with enhanced trust is disclosed, in which an immediate contact is made with the user on the enhanced trust system when a compromise is first detected. The service contacts the compromised user and asks for confirmation of the results. As a result, the true user on the enhanced trust machine is able to preclude a login or preclude a password change. In a first embodiment of the invention, an enhanced trust machine is a machine where the user is currently logged in at the time that the less trusted machine attempts a login. A second embodiment of the invention comprehends an enhanced trust machine where the user has logged in repeatedly over a course of numerous weeks, as compared with a lesser trusted machine that the user has never logged into before and which is now asking for a change of the password.