METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONSOLIDATED SIGN-OFF IN A HETEROGENEOUS FEDERATED ENVIRONMENT

A method is presented in which federated domains interact within a federated environment. Domains within a federation can initiate federated single-sign-on operations for a user at other federated domains. A point-of-contact server within a domain relies upon a trust proxy within the domain to manage trust relationships between the domain and the federation. Trust proxies interpret assertions from other federated domains as necessary. Trust proxies may have a trust relationship with one or more trust brokers, and a trust proxy may rely upon a trust broker for assistance in interpreting assertions. When a user requests to logoff from a domain that has initiated federated single-sign-on operations for the user at other federated domains, the domain initiates a consolidated logoff operation by requesting logoff operations at those other federated domains, which may also initiate logoff operations in a cascaded fashion to the domains at which they have initiated federated single-sign-on operations.