Recently I met one of my
readers and he asked me what is authentication and why is it required in very
simple terms. So, here is the post.
What is Authentication?
To understand the
fundamentals of authentication, let's begin by taking an easy example. You are
working on some file and now you want to share that file to a person named XYZ
over OneDrive. So, the purpose of authentication in this case is to make sure
that only XYZ can access that document.
How to achieve it?
It can be achieved by setting
up the authentication system and this system will tell who all can access this
file based on some predefined rules. In our case, the rule is simple - none
except XYZ should be able to access the file.
How verification happens?
Entire verification
activity solely depends on our authentication system. When I'm saying
authentication system, it means it is nothing but a piece of software written
by someone. Now how will this piece of software validate the incoming user
whether it is XYZ, ABC or someone else?
The most popular way to
accomplish this is by using the login form wherein user will enter its identity
in the form of login details.
Let's go in a bit formal
way.
Authentication is a
process of identifying an entity using challenge response pattern.
Are Authentication and
Identification same?
Not really.
Authentication deals with only offering the challenge to the user, which is a
login form in our case, whereas Identification deals with matching user claims,
which can be name, DoB, etc.
Hope you got a fleeting
idea on what is an authentication system. Happy learning!
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