Patent attributes
Embodiments of the present invention include methods involving an authentication application, a client application, or a combination of a network access control server with the authentication application and the client application. The client application collects compliance data regarding the user device and communicates the compliance data to the network access control server. The network access control server generates a compliance check result based on whether the compliance data indicates that the user device is compliant with a security policy for the software-as-a-service server. The authentication application grants access by the user device when the compliance check result is positive; and the authentication application denies access by the user device when the compliance check result is negative. In some embodiments, the compliance check result or a user device identifier is stored in a web browser cookie or a client certificate on the user device.