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This paper proposes an authentication architecture for collaboration among agents in a network environment without security assurance. The architecture requires that there should exist at least one secure node (oasis node). The oasis node generates the same number of authentication codes as the number of objects of authentication, using random numbers and agent information, and distributes the codes among the agents. The agents gather at the specified oasis node and obtain verification by the oasis node, based on the distributed random value and the authentication code. In the authentication architecture proposed in this paper, the random number and the authentication code are publicized information which can be compromised by eavesdropping. But the algorithm for generation and verification of the authentication code is not publicized. The architecture is suited for handling authentication processing in ad hoc collaboration among an unspecified number of agents. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 87(5): 11-19, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ ecja.10165.