Authentication

OAuth 2.0 is an authorization framework standardized as RFC 6749 by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) in 2012, designed to allow users to grant third-party applications limited access to their resources without exposing their credentials (passwords). It is currently adopted as the standard for social login and API authorization by most major internet services including Google, Facebook, GitHub, and Twitter. The Origins of OAuth The Problem OAuth Solves Before OAuth, users had to directly provide their usernames and passwords to third-party applications, which created serious security risks. Users had no way to know which applications would safely manage their credentials, nor could they granularly control access permissions or revoke them at any time. ...

Web Authentication is a core mechanism designed to solve the user identification problem arising from the stateless nature of the HTTP protocol. Since Lou Montulli of Netscape Communications invented cookies in 1994, authentication has evolved from session-based to token-based approaches. Modern web applications widely use hybrid methods combining JWT and Refresh Tokens to satisfy both security and scalability requirements. Understanding Authentication and Authorization The Difference Between Authentication and Authorization Authentication is the process of confirming “who you are” by verifying a user’s identity, while Authorization is the process of determining “what you can do” by granting access permissions to specific resources for authenticated users. Authentication must be performed before authorization is possible, and these two concepts should be clearly distinguished. ...