An access system provides identity management and/or access management services for a network. An application program interface for the access system enables an application without a web agent front end to read and use contents of an existing encrypted cookie to bypass authentication and proceed to authorization. A web agent is a component (usually software, but can be hardware or a combination of hardware and software) that plugs into (or otherwise integrates with) a web server (or equivalent) in order to participate in providing access services.