In this article, we will be going over two concepts people tend to confuse in the world of identity and access management. Simply put, authentication validates that users are who they say they are, while authorization permits those users to access a resource.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
Authentication is the process of validating that users are who they claim to be. Passwords are one of the most common ways to authenticate a user on a system. If the username matches the password provided by the user, it means the identity is valid, and the system proceeds to grant access to the user.
Other ways of authenticating users include:
โข ๐๐ฃ๐-๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐จ๐จ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐๐จ (๐๐๐) - These grant access for only one session or transaction.
โข ๐ผ๐ช๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ผ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ - They generate security codes via an outside party that grants access.
โข ๐ฝ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐จ - Here, a user presents a fingerprint or eye scan to gain access to the system. Some systems might require the successful verification of more than one authentication factor before granting a user access. This is called two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) and is often used to increase security beyond what passwords alone can provide.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป?
Authorization is the process of giving a user permission to access a specific resource or function in a system. This term is often used interchangeably with access control or client privilege.
Popular authorization techniques include:
โข ๐๐ค๐ก๐-๐๐๐จ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐ค๐ก๐จ (๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐พ) - They can be implemented for system-to-system and user-to-system privilege management.
โข ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ (๐ ๐๐) - This is an open standard for securely transmitting data between parties, and users are authorized using a public/private key pair.
โข ๐๐ผ๐๐ - This is a standard Single Sign-On format (SSO). Here, authentication information is exchanged through XML documents that are digitally signed.
โข ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ - This verifies user identity based on an authorization serverโs authentication.
โข ๐๐ผ๐ช๐ฉ๐ - This allows an API to authenticate and access a requested system or resource.
๐ ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ
To learn more about authentication and authorization concepts, differences, and techniques, check out this infographic created by infographic created by LoginRadius..
๐๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐๐ต0
Auth0 is a flexible, drop-in solution to add authentication and authorization services to your applications. It allows your team and organization to avoid the cost, time, and risk that comes with building a custom solution to authenticate and authorize users. You can read more about Auth0 here auth0.com/docs/get-started