AuthenticationAuthentication Authentication determines whether the user is who they claim to be. is the act of determining that a person is who they claim to be.
When an end user logs in successfully (for example, using a username and password), the authentication system (the identity provider) will then certify to a consuming service (the service provider) that the end user is who they claim to be.
Not to be confused with authorization, authentication only determines the identity of an end user. Authentication makes no decisions whether an end user should have access to a resource. The identity provider may, however, provide the service provider with information which allows the service provider to make an authorizationAuthorization Authorization determines whether an authenticated user is allowed to access a specific resource or take a specific action. decision.
Enterprise Authentication
The IAM Team offers the Enterprise Authentication service for campus-wide, web-based single sign-on. Enterprise Authentication is powered by a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAMLSAML Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is a standard, XML-based language for exchanging authentication and authorization data between identity providers and service providers. This standard is currently used by Enterprise Authentication (as well as hundreds of service providers that integrate with our identity providers).) 2.0 Identity Provider (IdPIdP An Identity Provider (IdP) is a software tool or service that offers user authentication as a service. At UT Austin, the primary IdP used to authenticate the UT EID and EID Password is Enterprise Authentication, which is managed by the IAM Team.).
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFAMFA Authentication makes use of one or more factors of authentication: something you know (e.g., a password), something you have (e.g., your smartphone), or something you are (e.g., a fingerprint). Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) makes use of two or more factors when authenticating you.)
If you need to protect your service or application behind Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and you are unable to use Enterprise Authentication we may be able to help!
Service Availability Metrics
The IAM Team has set a Service Level Objective (SLO) of 99.491% for Enterprise Authentication and 99.795% for Multi-Factor Authentication.
| Year | Enterprise Authentication | Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 99.815% | 99.795% |
| 2021 | 99.968% | 99.950% |
| 2020 | 99.940% | 99.256% |
| 2019 | 99.989% | 100.000% |
For more data, please see our Metrics page.
