METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SINGLE SIGN-ON AUTHENTICATION IN A MULTI-VENDOR E-COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT AND DIRECTORY-AUTHENTICATED BANK DRAFTS

A computer-implemented draft authentication method for use in e-commerce includes the steps of establishing partner relationships between a financial institution and a plurality of World Wide Web (Web) vendors and storing, for each of a plurality of Web customers, at least one piece of unique identifying information linked to the Web customer's financial information. Web customers executing drafts or causing drafts to be executed by the Web vendors and presented to the financial institution are authenticated by immediately encrypting at least a portion of an identification data set provided by the Web customer over the network and by successfully matching the immediately encrypted identification data set with the stored piece(s) of encrypted identifying information. The Web customer's financial information is then retrieved only by the financial institution and constraints are established based-on the retrieved information. The financial institution then honors drafts presented by the Web vendors with whom the drawee has a partner relationship only when the Web customer is successfully authenticated and the constraints are satisfied. Only the identification information (such as biometric data and/or ID and password pairs) of each of the Web customers is securely replicated from the financial institution to each of the Web vendors. LDAP-compatible Directory software may be utilized as the means of storing, processing and replicating the Web customer's identification information to each of the Web vendors. The financial institution warrants the security of the system and controls the replication and content of the Directories at each of the Web vendor sites.