What is the term for the process of validating that a person or entity is who they claim to be, commonly referred to as logging in?

What is the term for the process of validating that a person or entity is who they claim to be, commonly referred to as logging in?

• A. Authorization
• B. Authentication
• C. Identity Store
• D. Federation

Answer: (B)

Authentication is the process of proving who you are. When you log in, your credentials are checked to confirm that the claimed identity is genuine. This is about verifying identity, not about what you’re allowed to do once that identity is known. That permission aspect is called authorization, which comes after authentication. The identity store is simply where identities and credentials are stored, like an LDAP or Active Directory directory. Federation, on the other hand, deals with trust and using identity assertions across different domains so you can sign in to multiple systems with a single set of credentials. So the act of validating who you are during login is authentication.

Authentication is the process of proving who you are. When you log in, your credentials are checked to confirm that the claimed identity is genuine. This is about verifying identity, not about what you’re allowed to do once that identity is known. That permission aspect is called authorization, which comes after authentication. The identity store is simply where identities and credentials are stored, like an LDAP or Active Directory directory. Federation, on the other hand, deals with trust and using identity assertions across different domains so you can sign in to multiple systems with a single set of credentials. So the act of validating who you are during login is authentication.