15.1. Authentication and authorization basics

Authentication is a method to ensure that certain services (access to a server, and so on) can be used only by the clients allowed to access the service. The process generally called as authentication actually consists of three distinct steps:

  • Identification: Determining the clients identity (for example, requesting a username).

  • Authentication: Verifying the clients identity (for example, requesting a password that only the real client knows).

  • Authorization: Granting access to the service (for example, verifying that the authenticated client is allowed to access the service).

    Note

    It is important to note that although authentication and authorization are usually used together, they can also be used independently. Authentication verifies the identity of the client. There are situations where authentication is sufficient, because all users are allowed to access the services, only the event and the user's identity has to be logged. On the other hand, authorization is also possible without authentication, for example if access to a service is time-limited (for example, it can only be accessed outside the normal working hours, and so on). In such situations authentication is not needed.

Verifying the clients identity requires an authentication method based on something the client knows (for example, password, the response to a challenge, and so on), or what the client has (for example, a token, a certificate, and so on). Traditionally, firewalls authenticate the incoming connections based on the source IP of the connection: if a user has access (can log in) to that computer, he has the right to use the services. However, there are several problems with this approach. IP addresses can be easily forged (especially on the local network), and are not necessarily static (for example, when Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is used). Furthermore, this method cannot distinguish the different users who are using a single computer (for example, in a terminal server or hot-desking environment). For these reasons, authentication is most commonly left to the server application providing the particular service. However, PNS is capable to overcome these problems in a simple, user-friendly way.

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