FORWARD-SECURE ONE-TIME AUTHENTICATION TOKENS WITH EMBEDDED TIME HINTS

Forward-secure one-time authentication tokens are provided with embedded time hints. A token generates a passcode for presentation to an authentication server by determining a current state of the token; generating a user authentication passcode based on the current state, wherein the generated user authentication passcode comprises an embedded time hint; and communicating the generated user authentication passcode to the authentication server. The passcode may be generated with the embedded time hint, for example, each time a user authentication passcode is generated or upon demand when a user authentication passcode is generated. A server processes a user authentication passcode by receiving the user authentication passcode, wherein the received user authentication passcode comprises an embedded time hint; and determining a time interval to search for another user authentication passcode based on the embedded time hint.