Patent attributes
Authentication systems are provided that select an authentication method to be applied to a given transaction from among a plurality of available authentication methods based on risk reasoning. An authentication request from an authentication requestor for a given transaction is processed by receiving the authentication request from the authentication requester and selecting an authentication method to be applied to the given transaction from among a plurality of available authentication methods based on an evaluation of one or more predefined risk reasons with respect to the available authentication methods. The predefined risk reasons associated with a given transaction comprise, for example, a set of risk reasons that contribute to a risk score that has been assigned to the given transaction. The evaluation may employ one or more of rule-based, heuristic and Bayesian techniques.