Determining Identity Of Individuals Using Authenticators

Abstract

Systems are provided that allow users to access resources in a manner that addresses inherent deficiencies in existing authentication systems. During a typical authentication process, the system may connect the user to one or more authenticators in real time through a variety of communications channels so that the authenticators may verify that the user is who he/she purports to be. In this way, a user may be authenticated and allowed to complete transactions that require access to protected resources/transactions. In some embodiments, the system may automatically identify authenticators for a user via an onboarding process by searching the user's electronic files, accessing social and professional networking sites, searching one or more credit reporting databases, or other such means. Based upon the determinations made by the authenticators, and other factors, such as the trust scores assigned to authenticators, an authentication engine may be used to calculate a confidence score regarding the user's identity that may be utilized in determining whether to grant the user access to protected resources/transactions.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An interactive voice response (IVR) system configured to authenticate a requestor to perform transactions which require accessing secure resources protected by the system, the IVR comprising:
 a first application configured to send a voice request for authenticating a requestor;   an IVR device coupled to a telephony server configured to:
 interpret the voice request received from the first application in order to retrieve at least one record corresponding to at least one authenticator, and 
 transmit information from the at least one record to a corresponding at least one authenticator; 
   a second application configured to receive the information sent to the at least one authenticator from the IVR device, the second application further configured to send a voice response from the at least one authenticator to the IVR device based on the information; and   the IVR device further configured to interpret the voice response from the second application in order to determine whether to allow the user access to the secure resources based on the voice response.   
     
     
         2 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein one or more of the authenticators is a third-party human trustee with a relationship to the user. 
     
     
         3 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein one or more of the authenticators is the user by means of a one or more calibrated devices. 
     
     
         4 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein sending information from the at least one record includes sending at least one of the following: text, images, voice, video, or forensic data. 
     
     
         5 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein the one or more records contains at least one of:
 contact information, relationship information and verification information. 
 
     
     
         6 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein sending information from the at least one record includes questions presented to the requestor and the requestor's corresponding answers. 
     
     
         7 . The IVR system of  claim 1  further comprising sending information not in the at least one record, but collected from the requestor in live or recorded. 
     
     
         8 . The IVR system of  claim 1  further comprising sending information not in the at least one record, but collected from one or more of the following: requestor's electronic files, social or professional networking site, or one or more credit reporting agency databases. 
     
     
         9 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein the at least one authenticator determines whether the requestor is the user based on a conference call with the requestor. 
     
     
         10 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein determining whether to allow the user access to the protected resources is based on a confirm or deny response and a level of certainty from the one or more authenticators. 
     
     
         11 . The IVR system of  claim 1  where determining whether to allow the user access to the protected resources is based on calculating a confidence score. 
     
     
         12 . The IVR system of  claim 1  wherein the IVR device is implemented as a Trusted Platform Module. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method for self-authenticating a user to perform transactions which require accessing protected resources, the computer-implemented method comprising:
 calibrating a primary device and one or more secondary devices to be contacted for purposes of self-authenticating the user;   receiving a communication at the primary device in response selecting at least one of the one or more secondary devices to transmit authentication data;   receiving that authentication data at the at least one secondary device wherein in response transferring the authentication data to the primary device; and reporting a confirmation from the primary device of receiving the authentication data.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13  wherein the authentication data or other data is at least one of images, sound, video, or text. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13  wherein the authentication data received by the at least one secondary device is in the form of a question and, instead of transferring the authentication data to the primary device, transferring an answer to the question. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13  wherein transferring the authentication data comprising transferring by at least one of: repeating the information into a microphone on the primary device, taking a photo of the data from the primary device, typing the information into the primary device, or transferring the data to the primary device using one or more wireless modalities. 
     
     
         17 . An interactive voice response (IVR) system for self-authenticating a user to perform transactions which require accessing protected resources, the IVR comprising:
 an IVR device coupled to a telephony server configured to configured to calibrate a primary application and one or more secondary application, the IVR device configured to send a voice request to the primary application for providing at least one identified secondary application and transmitting authentication data, in the form of sound, to the at least one identified application, if the at least one identified secondary applications matches at least one of the one or more secondary applications;   the primary application calibrated to respond to the voice request from the IVR device by sending the at least one identified secondary application to the IVR device;   the one or more secondary applications calibrated to receive the authentication data, in the form of sound, from the IVR device, the one or more secondary applications calibrated to present the authentication data in a form to be transferred to the primary application; and   the primary application further calibrated to receive the authentication data transferred from the at least one identified secondary application and in response send a voice confirmation to the IVR device.   
     
     
         18 . The data processing system of  claim 17  wherein the authentication data received by the at least one secondary device is in the form of a question and, instead of transferring the authentication data to the primary device, transferring an answer to the question. 
     
     
         19 . The data processing system of  claim 18  wherein transferring the authentication data comprising transferring by at least one of: repeating the information into a microphone on the primary device, taking a photo of the data from the primary device, typing the information into the primary device, or transferring the data to the primary device using wireless modalities.