Table of contents
Definition
The process of establishing that a fact is genuine is referred to as authentication. This phrase is generally related to proving a user's identification in computer programming.
A user often confirms their identity by submitting credentials, which are agreed-upon pieces of information communicated between the user and the system.
Use Cases and Examples
The most common authentication technique is the username and password combination, commonly known as password-based authentication.
Take an example of the websites that provide a user interface that requests a username and password. After the user provides these values, they are cross-checked against those provided earlier to the system.
Once the credentials are verified, the system will grant the user access to resources meant to be used only by that user.
Sometimes multiple layers of authentication are required to gain access to a system. Such a model is referred to as multi-factor authentication.
So a double layer authentication will be termed two-factor authentication. This might involve providing a username-password combination then receiving an SMS with a unique number sequence to be provided to the system.
Summary
Authentication provides security to the user's account and data held by the system. And the sure way to do this is for the system and user to know or have something that no one else does.
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