Method and System for Establishing and Managing Trust Metrics for Service Providers in a Federated Service Provider Network

Abstract

A system for issuing, validating, and managing trust between two or more entities authenticated to operate in a federated network includes one or more servers for issuing trust certificates based on one or more trust metrics, and one or more servers for validating issued trust certificates. Entities operating through a communications interface may be issued trust certificates pursuant to evaluation relative to certain trust metrics, the certificates accompanying communications between entities the certificates subject to validation at communication end points of interaction.

1 . A system for issuing, validating and managing trust between two or more entities authenticated to operate in a federated network comprising:
 one or more servers for issuing trust certificates based on one or more trust metrics; and   one or more servers for validating issued trust certificates;   characterized in that entities operating through a communications interface may be issued trust certificates pursuant to evaluation relative to certain trust metrics, the certificates accompanying communications between entities the certificates subject to validation at communication end points of interaction.   
   
   
       2 . In a federated network, a method for establishing and managing trust credentials for an entity authenticated to operate on the network comprising the steps;
 (a) configuring a trust level certificate for the entity pursuant to some evaluation of the entity relative to one or more trust metrics;   (b) monitoring and re-evaluating the entity in term of performance and developments relative to the trust metrics after a period of time of service; and   (c) based on the results of step (b), re-issuing or updating a trust certificate or maintaining the current trust certificate for the entity.   
   
   
       3 . A system for enabling consumers to select service providers from a federated network of providers based on trust rating relative to one or more trust metrics comprising:
 a trust authority for rating service providers and issuing trust certificates to those providers;   a trust validation service for validating trust certificates used in communication to convey trust; and   an interface accessible to consumers for presenting a list of trusted service providers rated by the trust authority;   characterized in that the service provider information provided in the listing includes trust rating, pricing for services, and a trust certificate summary visible to the consumer to help the consumer decide which service provider to contact.   
   
   
       4 . A method for securing a communication session according to trust between two entities authenticated to operate in a federated network comprising the steps:
 (a) issuing by a third party, a trust certificate to each the entities when they authenticate to use the network.   (b) exchanging the trust certificates between the two entities at the onset of communication between the entities;   (c) validating by a third party, each trust certificate the validation performed when each of the entities receive the other's trust certificate; and   (d) upon successful validation of each of the trust certificates, allowing the communication channel to remain open for communication.   
   
   
       5 . A method for dynamically selecting a data management policy from a pool of data management policies and implementing the policy to manage data output in a communication session comprising the steps:
 (a) providing the pool of data management policies and associating each of the policies to a different default trust value;   (b) quantifying an amount of trust expressed by value that can be afforded to each party to the communication session based on one or more trust metrics and certifying each party according to evaluation results relative to the one or more trust metrics;   (c) selecting a party to the communication session and calculating a trust value for that parties communication output based on one or an average of more than one trust value of another party or parties to the communication session;   (d) comparing the derived trust value to the default trust values associated to the data management policies; and   (e) selecting a trust level according to a closest match result of step (d) and implementing the associated data management policy to manage data output of that party of the communication session for the duration of the session.