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User Authentication
User Authentication verifies the identity of a user attempting to gain access to a network or computing resource by authorizing a human-to-machine transfer of credentials during interactions on a network to confirm a user's authenticity. The term contrasts with Machine Authentication, which is an automated authentication method that does not require user input.
Authentication helps ensure only authorized users can gain access to a system by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access and potentially damaging systems, stealing information, or causing other problems. Almost all human-to-computer interactions – other than guest and automatically logged-in accounts – perform user authentication. It authorizes access on both wired and wireless networks to enable access to networked and internet-connected systems and resources.
A straightforward process, user authentication consists of three tasks:
- Identification. Users have to prove who they are.
- Authentication. Users have to prove they are who they say they are.
- Authorization. Users have to prove they're allowed to do what they are trying to do.
User authentication can be as simple as requiring a user to type a unique identifier, such as a user ID, along with a Password to access a system. It can also be more complex, however – for example, requiring a user to provide information about physical objects or the environment or even take actions, such as placing a finger on a fingerprint reader.
Source: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/user-authentication
