Delivery of authentication information to a RESTful service using token validation scheme

1. A computer-implemented method of providing entity-related information, comprising:

receiving, at a relying party, a request for entity-related information, the request being from a RESTful service authentication component,

wherein an entity agent is redirected from the RESTful service authentication component to the relying party;

redirecting the entity agent by the relying party to an identity provider;

authenticating an entity to the identity provider using entity-supplied information;

retrieving the entity-related information;

returning, by the relying party, a service ticket to the RESTful service authentication component,

wherein the service ticket is returned by redirecting the entity agent to the RESTful service authentication component;

receiving, at the relying party using a back channel, a validate service ticket request associated with the request for the entity-related information; and

returning, using the back channel, the entity-related information associated with the validate service ticket request.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identity provider is selected using the entity agent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the entity-supplied information comprises information from a smart card.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the smart card is a CAC.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the smart card is a PIV card.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the entity-supplied information is used to locate entity-related information for retrieval.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the request to locate entity-related information for retrieval uses Attribute Exchange OpenID 2.0 protocol.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the entity-supplied information comprises data from a smart card.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the entity-supplied information comprises an X.509 certificate.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the retrieving entity-related information comprises accessing a SAR.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein retrieved entity-related information is in a SAML assertion.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein retrieved entity-related information is in a token.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein retrieved entity-related information is in a SAML token.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service ticket is CAS compliant.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the returning the entity-related information comprises a SAML assertion.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the returning the entity-related information comprises a token.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the returning the entity-related information comprises a SAML token.

18. A computer system providing entity-related information, comprising:

a relying party configured to receive a request for entity-related information, the request being from a RESTful service authentication component,

wherein the relying party receives the request from an entity agent redirected by the RESTful service authentication component;

an identity provider configured to:

accept the entity-related information request;

receive the request for entity-related information from the entity agent redirected from the relying party;

authenticate an entity using entity-supplied information; and

retrieve the entity-related information;

a service ticket associated with the request for entity-related information,

wherein the service ticket is returned by redirecting the entity agent to the RESTful service authentication component; and

a back channel operable to receive at the relying party a validate service ticket request associated with the request for the entity-related information,

wherein the back channel is operable to return the entity-related information associated with the validate service ticket request.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the relying party is configured to allow the entity to select the identity.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the identity provider is configured to accept entity-supplied information from a smart card.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the smart card is a CAC.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein the smart card is a PIV card.

23. The system of claim 20 , wherein the entity-supplied information is used to locate entity-related information for retrieval.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the request to locate entity-related information for retrieval uses Attribute Exchange OpenID 2.0 protocol.

25. The system of claim 23 , wherein the entity-supplied information comprises an X.509 certificate.

26. The system of claim 18 , wherein the retrieval of entity-related information comprises accessing a SAR.

27. The system of claim 18 , wherein the entity-related information retrieved by the identity provider is in a SAML assertion.

28. The system of claim 18 , wherein the entity-related information retrieved by the identity provider is in a token.

29. The system of claim 28 , wherein the entity-related information retrieved by the identity provider is in a SAML token.

30. The system of claim 18 , wherein the service ticket is CAS compliant.

31. The system of claim 18 , wherein the entity-related information returned using the back channel is in a SAML assertion.

32. The system of claim 18 , wherein the entity-related information returned using the back channel is in a token.

33. The system of claim 32 , wherein the entity-related information returned using the back channel is in a SAML token.