Authentication generally referred as ‘AuthN’ and Authorization referred as ‘AuthZ’. AuthN challenges are to validate the identity of the user by user sign-in and AuthZ to ensure if the requested party has valid access to perform any read, write or edit operation on the requested file or resource.
A good example that can help to digest the information is flight travel. Passengers have a valid photo ID + a valid travel ticket for the present date can only enter with in airport premises post authenticating their identity at the security gate. Again, before boarding to the flight the staff at the gate will ensure, if they are authorized to board to the flight by validating the flight number, flight time and seat number information present on the flight ticket.
Common Authentication Protocols
There are many authentication protocols to choose from when developing login systems for your app or managing application data security from application server. Each protocol comes with different features, advantages, and disadvantages.
Let’s explore some of the most popular authentication protocols.
On-Prem AuthN protocols:
Modern AuthN protocols:
- OAuth
- Open ID Connect
- Security Assertion Markup Language(SAML)
OAuth is mainly used for authorization, OpenID is mainly used for authentication, and SAML is mainly used for enterprise-level authentication and authorization. Mostly, Facebook, Google, and Twitter uses OAuth2.0 to authorize any third party application without sharing the credentials.
How to make a choice for authentication protocol for my application
Being a developer or IT administrator one can define which authentication protocol can suffices and ensures their application data security with minimal efforts and cost.
1: Application need
What systems and resources require access and how confidential are they?
2: Integration
Choose a protocol that can launched without overhauling your existing infrastructure.
3: Scalability
Ensure that your system is scalable with the enterprise growth.
4: Authentication Method
The information users provide to verify their identity is known as the authentication method. Some of the examples includes passwords, one-time passwords(OTPs), password less authentication(via validation URL) and biometrics.
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