Patent attributes
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that provides access to an application-resource. During operation, the system receives a request to access an application-resource associated with an application, wherein the request is received at an application-server that hosts the application. The system then determines an authentication-level required to access the application-resource. Next, the system sends the required authentication-level to an authentication-server. In response, the system receives an authentication-response from the authentication-server. Next, the system determines if the authentication-response specifies that the user is authenticated to access the application-resource. If so, the system grants the user access to the application-resource.