A Comprehensive Guide to Authentication and Authorization Patterns in Modern Applications
Shrishail Hiremath
Principal Cloud Architect || TOGAF? Certified || AWS Certified
A Comprehensive Guide to Authentication and Authorization Patterns in Modern Applications
While I was aware at the surface level how authentication works, due to evolving roles and responsibilities, recently I have to deep dive in how authentication functions and what different patterns we usually use at an enterprise. I am trying my best to throw a very focused light based on what I learnt, I am sure you keep me honest and corrected in the comments.
This article aims to provide a look into the most commonly used authentication and authorization patterns for two major patterns that is human-to-app (interactive) and app-to-app (non-interactive) scenarios, along with an overview of key technologies, protocols, and industry best practices (Hmm, kind of).
In today's world of distributed systems, microservices, and cloud infrastructure, security and authentication are more crucial than ever. ?Zero trust policy, least privileged access policies make the identity management and access control that much more exhaustive so let me try to scratch the surface as much as I can.
Authentication and Authorization Patterns at Point blank
Human-to-App (Mostly called Interactive) Authentication Patterns:
Human-to-app authentication is where a user interacts with an application that needs to authenticate and authorize them before granting access.
Common Use Cases:
App-to-App (Mostly known as Non-Interactive[Backend]) Authentication Patterns
App-to-app patterns focus on secure machine-to-machine communication without direct user interaction.
Common Use Cases:
Common Authentication and Authorization Protocols
OAuth2: A token-based access control framework, primarily for delegated access. Suitable for both human-to-app and app-to-app scenarios.
SAML2: A protocol for exchanging authentication and authorization data between identity providers and service providers, often used in enterprise-level SSO.
JWT (JSON Web Tokens): Tokens that pass claims (e.g., user identity, roles) between two parties. Useful for stateless authentication in both human-to-app and app-to-app scenarios.
OpenID Connect (OIDC): An identity layer on top of OAuth2, used for user authentication and retrieving basic profile information. Common in social login scenarios.
Common Authentication Patterns for Human-to-App
Flow: The user is redirected to an authorization server to authenticate. An authorization code is returned, which the app exchanges for an access token.
Use Case: Commonly used when an application needs API access on behalf of a user, such as Google or Facebook login.
Flow: Users authenticate once with an identity provider (IdP), which issues a SAML2 assertion that the application uses to grant access.
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Use Case: Popular in enterprise settings where users need to access multiple applications without multiple logins.
Flow: Users must provide a second form of authentication after their primary credentials (e.g., one-time password or biometric).
Use Case: Adds an extra layer of security, especially when accessing sensitive data.
Common Authentication Patterns for App-to-App
Flow: A service (client) requests access to a resource (API) using its own credentials to obtain an access token.
Use Case: Ideal for machine-to-machine communication, such as microservices interacting with each other.
Flow: A JWT is issued and passed between microservices for authentication and authorization. Each service validates the token.
Use Case: Suited for stateless microservice architectures, especially in containerized environments.
Flow: Applications use SAML2 assertions to authenticate and authorize access to services across different domains, leveraging federation protocols.
Use Case: Suited for third-party integrations where trust between separate security domains is needed.
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Security Best Practices
Token Validation: Access tokens (e.g., JWT, OAuth2, SAML2) must be validated with each request, checking signatures, expiration, and scope.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Tokens should include roles and scopes that determine what resources a client can access. Services should verify these roles on each request.
Secure Token Storage and Transmission: Never expose tokens in URLs or transmit them over insecure channels. Always use TLS for secure transmission.
API Gateways: In app-to-app scenarios, API gateways provide an additional layer of security by managing token validation and request routing.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Always implement MFA to bolster authentication security.
Least Privilege: Ensure that both users and applications have only the minimum permissions necessary.
Token and Credential Rotation: Regularly rotate tokens and credentials, enforcing short expiration times to minimize risk in case of compromise.
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Conclusion
Authentication and authorization patterns are essential for securing applications, whether they’re user-facing or backend services. By adopting industry standards like OAuth2, SAML2, and OpenID Connect, and following security best practices like token validation and least-privilege access, you can ensure robust security while providing seamless experiences.
By
Shrishail Hiremath