Identity is complex, Auth0 is there for you

Back in the days, computer technology was not so advanced to keep up with all your safety requirements. Internet users were supposed to create different login accounts and remember all the passwords and usernames. While managing the credentials was itself no walk in the park for programmers, authorization was another hurdle with which they had to deal with on a regular basis. All the complex databases and explicit programming used to make the occurrence of a cleaner code entirely improbable, which resulted in decreased response time and messed up user experience.

Introduction to Auth0

However, today, we have Auth0, which is cross-platform authentication and authorization service compatible with all renowned high-level languages. Auth0 is a well-simplified method of user authentication that allows people to login easily with already existing credentials. In brief, it is a service that enables you to grant permission or authorize an application platform to access your data on your behalf from another platform.

For a more vivid explanation, you need to understand the difference between the two terms 'authentication' and 'authorization' that people use interchangeably.

Authentication

Authentication refers to the process of verifying your identity using for example login credentials like username and password.

Authorization

On the other hand, the term authorization refers to verifying whether you have access to a specific service, resource, etc. or not. You can recognize authorization requests from applications that ask you to grant several permissions for accessing the various features of your application.

Example of login with Auth0 universal login

Auth0 is a service that allows universal login in all your applications with a shared set of credentials. For example, if you have Facebook or Google profile, any app with Auth0 integrated will allow you to login using your Facebook or Google credentials. First, it will ask you to enter your login details on Facebook or Google, and then it will authorize the application to collect all the required information from these social accounts. This mode of authentication and authorization is more convenient as it saves your time by not requiring you to set up a new user profile from scratch, and also has nearly gained ubiquity.

Parties Involved in Auth0 Authentication and Authorization

Whenever a programmer integrates Auth0 API, it implicitly interacts with the following parties during the authenticity procedure.

• Resource Owner: Resource owner is the user whose username validation and data authorization Auth0 conducts.

• Client: Client is the application that asks resource information on the resource owner's behalf.

• Authorization Server: It is the application that knows the owner where the asked resource is stored.

• Resource Server: It is the service that the client wants to use on the resource owner's behalf.

Features of Auth0

Auth0 is not only a popular alternative that allows universal authentication, but it also has its captivating set of features to allure developers. We have mentioned some of its most handy features below:

1. Auth0 Analytics

With the help of Auth0, developers can track visitors on a website and capture other metrics that can help them improve the UX and UI. It also favors in-depth research for strengthening security features.

Some of the metrics that you can analyze on Auth0 are:

• The total number of registered users
• The login-activity on the application
• Totaling of existing and new users
• The number of per week and per day logins and registrations
• The number of identity providers

All the metrics are well-visualized in the form of graphs and charts in Auth0 so that developers do not face much difficulty in data interpretation.

2. Security

Auth0 uses a trusted protocol, named OAuth 2.0, which grants an application the rights to access resources on the owner's behalf. OAuth 2.0 is widely successful due to the versatility it gives to the users without exposing any opening for malicious actions. For example, users do not need to trust every application with their login credentials and can log in via their trusted platform. To fortify its security features to the next level, Auth0 uses Push Notifications, which are implicitly activated when the authorization server logs in to a website or platform that the user has never visited before.

3. UI Options

UI is crucial in every application. With Auth0, developers get the option to carry on with the in-built interface or develop a custom one. When you prefer the in-built UI of Auth0, the application redirects the user to an Auth0 login page. In the second scenario, the authentication process takes place in a custom UI without the need for redirection.

Does your application need Auth0?

Apart from the various features mentioned above, it is up to you to decide whether your application needs Auth0. If both your motivation and app falls under any of these categories, integrating Auth0 is a very wise option.

• When you want the users to be able to log in to your application with their social accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• When you want to implement Single Sign-On (SS0) for your multiple apps
• When you want to authenticate users via Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
• When you want your users to be able to log in via one-time passwords (OTP) sent through push notifications or SMS
• When you want to block specific IP addresses on consecutively failed login attempts
• When you want both your mobile app and web app to access your API
• When you require user analytics for every old and new user that logs in or registers on your platform
• To enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing sensitive user information

Aut0 offers lots of code examples to get you started with a good and secure identity mechanism to make it easy to implement a successful login flow. For more interesting articles on the latest developments in the programming world, feel free to explore our blog anytime.