Method and apparatus for authenticating users of mobile devices

1. A method for authenticating a user of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device to access a resource on a network;

identifying a network address of the client device;

retrieving a mapping of the network address to user identification information and device identification information;

determining if the mapping is valid by issuing an authentication challenge and comparing information in a response to the authentication challenge with information in the mapping; and

preventing the request from reaching the resource if the mapping is not valid.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises retrieving the mapping from a remote server.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises using the RADIUS protocol to request the mapping from the remote server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication challenge comprises a request to provide device identification information and user identification information used to obtain the network address.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network address is a mobile IP address.

6. A system for controlling access to a network, the system comprising a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device to access a resource on a network;

identifying a network address of the client device;

retrieving a mapping of the network address to user identification information and device identification information;

determining if the mapping is valid by issuing an authentication challenge and comparing information in a response to the authentication challenge with information in the mapping; and

preventing the request from reaching the resource if the mapping is not valid.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises receiving the mapping from a remote server.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises using the RADIUS protocol to request the mapping from the remote server.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the authentication challenge comprises a request to provide device identification information and user identification information used to obtain the network address.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the network address is a mobile IP address.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device to access a resource on a network;

identifying a network address of the client device;

retrieving a mapping of the network address to user identification information and device identification information;

determining if the mapping is valid by issuing an authentication challenge and comparing information in a response to the authentication challenge with information in the mapping; and

preventing the request from reaching the resource if the mapping is not valid.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises retrieving the mapping from a remote server.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein retrieving the mapping comprises using the RADIUS protocol to retrieve the mapping from the remote server.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the authentication challenge comprises a request to provide device identification information and user identification information used to obtain the network address.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the network address is a mobile IP address.

16. A system for controlling access to a network, the system comprising:

means for receiving a request from a client device to access a resource on a network;

means for identifying a network address of the client device;

means for retrieving a mapping of the network address to user identification information and device identification information;

means for determining if the mapping is valid by issuing an authentication challenge and comparing information in a response to the authentication challenge with information in the mapping; and

means for preventing the request from reaching the resource if the mapping is not valid.

17. A method for authenticating a user of an enabled device, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device to access an origin server;

identifying a network address of the client device;

sending an authentication challenge to the client device, wherein user identification information and device identification information is requested;

receiving a response to the authentication challenge;

retrieving user identification and device identification information associated with the network address of the client device from a server;

comparing the user identification information and the device identification information received in the response with the user identification information and the device identification information retrieved from the server; and

preventing the request from reaching the origin server if the user identification information and device identification information received in the response does not match the user identification information and the device identification information retrieved from the server.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the server is a RADIUS accounting server.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the network address is a mobile IP address.