Data Structure
Networking
RDBMS
Operating System
Java
MS Excel
iOS
HTML
CSS
Android
Python
C Programming
C++
C#
MongoDB
MySQL
Javascript
PHP
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Mathematics
English
Economics
Psychology
Social Studies
Fashion Studies
Legal Studies
- Selected Reading
- UPSC IAS Exams Notes
- Developer's Best Practices
- Questions and Answers
- Effective Resume Writing
- HR Interview Questions
- Computer Glossary
- Who is Who
Understanding Web Authentication behind the login screen
Web Authentication is verifying the user login details in any of the online accounts like an e-commerce website, social media, online banking services, etc. Each time when a user creates an online account in any of the web applications, a unique Id and key value will be created for future verification and these are stored in secured web servers. Authentication can also be done through other ways like matching with retina, fingerprint, and voice recognition.
Consider an example of Gmail or any mail account each time during login, the user is required to enter a username or email with a valid password. Only when this combination gets matched with the mail server database, the user will be allowed to access the main page and its services.
Importance of Web Authentication
If website authentication has less security, then there is a higher risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, phishing, and password attacks.
All these types of attacks can make users of particular applications lose their sensitive data and lead to mistrust in trusting the same application again.
When the user signs in with a password and login details the browser or application may suggest remembering these credentials when the yes option is given then it will be stored in the browser or website cookies which may be useful for hackers to attack the saved data or anyone who uses the same device in future. One should be very careful on the authentication screen in banking, social medial pages, or any sensitive applications.
Setting up strong passwords or enabling two-factor authentication are ways to protect data from attacks. Weak passwords with lower characters or familiar plain text may lead to hacking related issues.
Working on the Authentication process behind the login screen
The user opens the browser or any web applications login page or home page to enter a username, password combination.
This ID and password pair is verified again Id and key-value pair that is stored in the web server database.
If a match is found then access to the account requested will be provided to the user to use.
Types of authentications provided can be differentiated into two types stateless and stateful
Stateful Authentication process uses session Id and Cookies. Session IDs are random characters identified by the server to validate the client or user request. Each time server issues a cookie with sessionId which is used for server-side validation. Once the user logs out from the application the Cookie and sessionId are cleared by the server.
Stateless Authentication uses AccessTokens, JSON Web tokens (JWTs), and Third-party access.
When a user provides login credentials, the server validates these details along with a signed JWT which contains useful information. These tokens are not stored on the server, stored only at the client. Tokens are sent to the server along with each client request and verified at the server end to grant access. All tokens created are cleared when the user logs out from the application.
Web Authentication Methods
By traditional way of providing username and password
By Physical items as procession factors but these have the drawback of the item can be stolen or misused by unknown or locked by the attacker
Inheritance factors such as identifying the user by providing fingerprints or face recognition that is unique to each person
Security to web authentication
Security can be made easier by providing multi-factor authentication that provides an extra layer of security to existing methods. Verifying details with OTP sent via mail or text messages to the linked mobile number. Hackers will not gain access to login without access to the user’s mobile or mail account.
Session alert that is sent to the user's mobile or mail account when a hacker or someone access to web applications and terminates unknown IDs can also be set if the application server enables options to do.
SSO authentication is another method to provide security where Single Sign On is enabling users to log in from one page to another domain without re-verifying login details.
Example − When the user logs into Microsoft tools with login details, when the user needs to switch to other Microsoft tools re-entering of username and password is not required as Microsoft enables the SSO authentication method.
So, the Web authentication process has both pros and cons based on the application used and the security factor user applies to access the web applications.
343 Views
