In PingAM authentication trees, the sharedState is the designated mechanism for passing information between nodes within a single authentication transaction. For a mobile device, a device profiling node can collect context data and write it to the sharedState. A subsequent node, such as one performing risk analysis, can then read this data from the sharedState to inform its decision. This approach is best practice because the data is transient, scoped only to the current authentication flow, and does not permanently alter the user's profile.

A. The session state is generally created after a successful authentication journey, not for passing data between nodes during it.

C. The user profile is for storing persistent identity attributes, not for temporary, transactional context data like device information.

D. Storing potentially sensitive, server-side context data in a client-side browser cookie is insecure and not a viable pattern for trees.

1. Ping Identity Documentation, PingAM > Develop > "Custom nodes," Section "How state is passed between nodes," describes the use of sharedState and transientState for communication between nodes.

2. Ping Identity Documentation, PingAM > Authenticate > "Nodes," describes how various nodes (e.g., Device Profile Collector) place information into the shared state for consumption by other nodes.