System and method for effort-based user authentication

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

receiving, from a user device, a user effort-based identity authentication token, the user effort-based identity authentication token being a package of data that is cryptographically signed;

generating a challenge request to the user device;

receiving, from the user device, an effort validation response and the user effort-based identity authentication token, the effort validation response having return data generated by an effort validation server in response to a user performed effort from the user device, the effort validation response including a validation key that includes both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the challenge request; and

authenticating the user as a function of the received effort validation response and the user effort-based identity authentication token.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user performed effort comprises user device keyboard user efforts.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user performed effort comprises gestures associated with user device touch screen user interaction.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user effort-based identity authentication token comprises user effort data encoded into a QR code.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user effort-based identity authentication token comprises user effort data encoded into a portable digital storage device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication server is a server running an application that the user device attempts to access.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication server is a separate server from a server running an application that the user device attempts to access.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the effort validation response includes a validation key that includes both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the challenge.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge request includes an effort challenge provided to the user device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein data of the challenge request is provided to the effort validation server from the user device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the validation key is a unique, cryptographically signed value.

12. A system for performing a method of authenticating a user of a user device, the system comprising:

a processor; a communication device coupled to the processor for communicating with other devices; and

a memory storing computer readable instructions coupled to the processor, the instructions for execution by the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a user effort-based identity authentication token, the user effort-based identity authentication token being a package of data that is cryptographically signed;

generating a challenge request to the user device;

receiving, from the user device, an effort validation response and the user effort-based identity authentication token, the effort validation response having return data generated by an effort validation server in response to a user performed effort from the user device, the effort validation response including a validation key that includes both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the challenge request; and

authenticating the user as a function of the received effort validation response and the user effort-based identity authentication token.

13. A method of authenticating a user, the method comprising:

receiving, from a user device, an access request with a user effort-based identity authentication token, the user effort-based identity authentication token being a package of data that is cryptographically signed;

generating an effort challenge as a function of the user effort-based identity authentication token;

sending the effort challenge to the user device;

receiving, from a user device, a validation response and the user effort-based identity authentication token, wherein the validation response is based on user effort responsive to the effort challenge being validated by a validation server that provides a validation key to the user device, the validation key including both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the effort challenge; and granting access, by the user device, responsive to the access request with the user effort-based identity authentication token and the validation response with the user effort-based identity authentication token.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the validation response includes the validation key.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the validation response includes a validation key that includes both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the effort challenge.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the effort challenge is provided to the validation server.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein granting access includes granting access to an application.

18. A method of authenticating a user via an authentication server in communication with a user device and an application, the method comprising:

receiving an access request from the user device;

generating and sending a challenge request to the authentication server;

receiving a validation response from the validation server, wherein the validation response is representative of an effort challenge to the user device and a corresponding effort and user effort-based identity authorization token received from the user device at the validation server, the user effort-based identity authentication token being a package of data that is cryptographically signed, the validation response including a validation key that includes both a rendered Boolean match conclusion and statistics about calculations associated with the rendered Boolean match conclusion, as well as information about the challenge request; and

allowing access responsive to the validation response.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the authentication server is a separate server from a server running an application that the user device attempts to access.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the access request includes a public value identifying the user.