Introduction to Authentication methods
Authentication methods are very important to validate the user. This is the first step in any application which deals with user data or any protected resource which we want to secure. There are many ways and types of Authentication that can be used to secure our resources. We can see this type of security for the user on many social websites and another platform as well, which ensure us that our data is secure from the outside world. We cannot rely on the password to secure resources, now we have various types of Authentication methods which can be used, both online and physically, or by authenticating the user via email, SWM, or token many more forms we have available. In the coming section of the tutorial, we will have closer look at each of the different Authentication methods type available to secure our resources from the outside world.
Advantage of Authentication Methods:
- It helps us to validate user access.
- It helps us to secure our data from the outside world.
- We can authenticate online as well as physically.
- We can authenticate users Via OpenID connect.
Methods of Authentication
In this section, we will discuss in detail the various Authentication methods for beginners to understand it better, so let’s get started with each of them
1. Multi-factor authentication
First, we will be going to discuss the MFA that is Multi-factor authentication in detail, in this type of authentication the user is required to authentication himself more than once which means that can either by smartphone, any token, captcha, and many more. We can have many Multi-factor authentications in place to authentication the user. Also, we can use email to authenticate the user. This can be done via sending an email to the user’s registered email id and they have to verify it, once this process is successful then the user is allowed to access the resource. In short, it added multiple layers of security to the user resource, which gives confidence to the user about their data.
Advantage:
- It helps user data to be protected via a different layer of the Authentication mechanism
Disadvantage:
- It may cause issues if the phone is lost
- In such case they will not be able to generate the token or number to authenticate.
2. Password-based authentication
We can use this type of authenticating process to authenticate the user, this is most common and less secure because it just updates the user based on the password they provide no extra authenticate is required by the user. Password cerate using the special character, alpha number, and many. Also, they can be a combination of feet letter, etc. So it is always recommended to use a password that does not include your name, dob, and all, ad make it strong using any combination of the unspecified information. So this is not the best way to protect our data from the outside world. In such cases people always have the same password for the type of accounts they have online which may cause a serious problem, people do this to remember the password is very difficult.
Let’s have a closer look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of authenticate in detail see below;
Advantage:
- Easy to remember
- No extra authenticate is required to validate the user
- no need to care about the token
Disadvantage:
- password-based authenticate is very much less secure
- there is no sufficient protection of our data from the online hacks
- If the password is simple then hackers can easily guess them by trying all the possible combination
3. Biometric authentication
Let’s have a closer look at this type of authenticate which is called ‘Biometric authentication’ As the name suggests it completely relies on the biological appearance or characteristics of the individual to authenticate them. This type of authenticating method used by government and private organizations helps them to authenticate any user easily. Biometric authenticate further dived into more types let’s take a look at each of them in detail for better understanding see below;
- Facial expression: In this type, they try to match the different characteristics of the face to allowed access to the individual for the resource. this technology prevents spoofing.
- fingerprint: As the name suggests it tries to match the different characteristics of the finger, to allowed access to the protected resource. this is also one of the most secure ways.
- eye scanner: in this type of authentication method, they try to the scanner the retina and iris reorganization to allowed access to the user for the particular resource.
4. Token-based authentication
In this type of authentication, we generate a token for the see to access any resource. Let’s understand how this works, first, we have to enter our credential after this it tries to generate a token out of that, which is encrypted. and this token is a long string of random characters. So we can use this token to access a resource that indicates that you have already gained access to this resource and are ready to use it. we do not require to enter our credentials again and again. But this token comes with an expiry time, once the token is expired we need to generate the new token to gain access again. This taken once again be generated using the same process by entering the credential of the user.
Advantage:
- it provides access to resources for a long period of time.
- do not need to enter the credential again and again.
Conclusion
As we have already seen so many Authentication methods to secure our resources we can choose any of them according to our need and based on how much the data is private. All the methods are easy to develop and easily be integrated with any of the languages available we have with good online support for developers.
Recommended Articles
This is a guide to Authentication methods. Here we discuss the different Authentication method types available to secure our resources from the outside world. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –
