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Front cover - IBM Redbooks

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Chapter 7. Single sign-on<br />

In this chapter we discuss single sign-on (SSO) concepts and technical methods<br />

we can use to facilitate it. Strictly speaking, single sign-on is a term to describe<br />

the end-user experience, not the technical implementation.<br />

We start by providing a more formal definition of SSO:<br />

“A mechanism whereby a single action of user authentication and authorization<br />

can permit a user to access all computers and systems where that user has<br />

access permission, without the need to enter multiple passwords.”<br />

This definition is from The Open Group’s Web site at:<br />

http://www.opengroup.org/security/l2-sso.htm<br />

7<br />

The key point is that the user is required to log in (authenticate) to an application<br />

one time, and not need to re-authenticate when accessing a second application<br />

or server within the context of a same session.<br />

This approach implies a number of valuable benefits, but also has some<br />

drawbacks. The benefits to the end users are:<br />

► Only one authentication mechanism to remember. For password-based<br />

authentication, this means users only have to remember one password.<br />

► If using passwords, users only have to update one password and follow one<br />

set of password rules.<br />

© Copyright <strong>IBM</strong> Corp. 2004. All rights reserved. 281

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