Authentication - Process of verifying a claim that a system entity or system resource has a certain attribute value.
Common Authentication Methods
Information technology systems can implement different authentication methods. Typically, they can be divided into the following three major categories:
- Knowledge-based authentication
- Ownership-based authentication
- Inherence-based authentication
Knowledge
The user provides information such as passwords, passphrases, PINs, or answers to security questions.
Ownership
The user proves their identity by proving the ownership of a physical object or device, such as ID cards, security tokens, or smartphones with authentication apps.
Inherence
This includes biometric factors such as fingerprints, facial patterns, and voice recognition, or signatures.