Network, Computer and Programming Resources

Network - Authentication System

An authentication system is a server whose job is to check the validity of all identities on the network and of their requests. Most of the work is done automatically, without requiring any explicit human intervention. One example of an authentication system is Kerberos, which was created for Project Athena at MIT. Kerberos is a distributed authentication system which verifies that a user is legitimate when the user logs in and every time the user requests a service. Kerberos uses special keys, called tickets, to encrypt transmissions between Kerberos and a user. BROADER CATEGORY Network Security