Security

Mechanisms for Authentication

Single Sign-On (SSO)

  • single login into system

  • centralized data store with users or access server

  • using protocols such as LDAP or Kerberos

Federated Identity

  • SSO on many organizations level

  • set of standards for exchange of identity

  • user does not login into the application directly. He is redirected to IdM (Identity management system)

Kerberos

  • it is a protocol used for Authentication and Authorization

  • main purpose is NOT to send user password anywhere (for authentication request to KDC server hash of the password is being sent)

  • it is an SSO mechanism where user logs in only once

  • based on trusted 3rd side

  • its a mutual authentication mechanism. Bots user and the service to which users log in must prove they are valid

Based on 3A principle

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Auditing

Components of Kerberos

  • KDC (Key Distribution Centre) which contains:

  • AS (Authentication Server)

  • TGS (Ticket Granting Server)

  • Principal that represent the user of the system

  • Service (server the system contacts with)

  • Realm (Domain) e.g. DEVELOPER.COM

  • Principal (User) e.g. arek@DEVELOPER.COM, host/java.developer.com@DEVELOPER.COM

Cons of Kerberos

  • constant availability of KDC

  • sensitive to time synchronization issues

  • in case of TGS hash breach. Attacker can act as any user in the system.

SAML 2.0

OAuth 2.0 & OpenID Connect

Blogs / Online Articles

JWT

Edge Services

Securing API

Blogs / Online Articles

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