What is User Identification and Authentication in information security?


Authentication is any procedure by which it can test that someone is who they claim they are. This generally contains a username and a password, but can involve some other method of demonstrating identity, including a smart card, retina scan, voice recognition, or fingerprints. Authentication is similar to displaying the drivers license at the ticket counter at the airport.

Authorization is discovering out if the person, once recognized, is allowed to have the resource. This is generally decided by discovering out if that person is a part of a specific group, if that person has paid admission, or has a specific level of security clearance. Authorization is same to checking the guest record at an exclusive party, or checking for the ticket when it can go to the opera.

Finally, access control is a usual way of talking about controlling access to a web resource. Access can be granted or denied based on a broad variety of criteria, including the network address of the user, the time of day, the process of the moon, or the internet which the visitor is using.

Access control is similar to locking the gate at closing time, or only letting person onto the ride who are higher than 48 inches tall it’s controlling entrance by some arbitrary condition which may or may not have anything to do with the attributes of the specific visitor.

Because these three approaches are so closely associated in most real applications, it is complex to talk about them independent from one another. In specific, authentication and authorization are, in most actual execution, inextricable.

It can be deciding if a user is authorized to use an IT system involves the distinct phase of identification and authentication. Identification concerns the manner in which a user supports the unique identity to the IT system. The identity can be a name (e.g., first or last) or a number (e.g., account number). The identity should be unique so that the system can distinguish between multiple users. It is based on operational requirements, one “identity” can define one individual, more than one individual, or one (or more) individual’s only part of the time.

Authentication is the phase of relating an individual with the unique identity, that is, the manner in which the individual creates the validity of the claimed identity. There are three basic authentication means by which an individual can authenticate his identity.

  • Something an individual KNOWS such as password, Personal ID Number (PIN), the combination to a lock, a combination of facts from a person’s background.

  • Something an individual POSSESSES such as token or card, a physical key to a lock.

  • Something an individual IS such as personal characteristics or “biometrics” including a fingerprint or voice pattern.

Updated on: 04-Mar-2022

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