FAQs
Basic Authentication is a method for an HTTP user agent (e.g., a web browser) to provide a username and password when making a request.
What is Basic Auth vs OAuth? ›
Unlike Basic Auth, where you have to share your password with people who need to access your user account, OAuth doesn't share password data. Instead, OAuth uses authorization tokens to verify an identity between consumers and service providers.
Is Basic Authentication still being used? ›
Basic authentication is now disabled in all tenants. Before December 31 2022, you could re-enable the affected protocols if users and apps in your tenant couldn't connect. Now no one (you or Microsoft support) can re-enable Basic authentication in your tenant.
What is basic API authentication? ›
Basic authentication is a simple authentication scheme built into the HTTP protocol. The client sends HTTP requests with the Authorization header that contains the word Basic word followed by a space and a base64-encoded string username:password . For example, to authorize as demo / p@55w0rd the client would send.
What is better than basic authentication? ›
Enhanced Security: Bearer Token is more secure than Basic Authentication, especially when used over secure channels (like HTTPS). They can also be designed to include features like token expiration and revocation.
Is API key authentication better than basic authentication? ›
API key-based authentication provides a more secure and scalable alternative to basic authentication, since the API key can be easily revoked or regenerated if it is compromised, and it allows the API provider to monitor and control access to the API more granularly.
What replaced basic authentication? ›
Microsoft recently announced a major change in the effort to protect their users' data In Exchange Online from cyber threats. By September 2025, the increasingly outdated Basic auth method will have been phased out completely and replaced by the OAuth protocol when using Microsoft email relay functionality (SMTP AUTH).
What to use instead of basic auth? ›
As well as basic authentication, there are other ways to implement authentication such as bearer authentication, form-based authentication, API keys and OAuth.
What is the issue with basic authentication? ›
Problems with Basic Authentication
Although they are encoded with Base64, this does not add any security since they can be decoded easily. Most configurations of Basic Authentication do not implement protection against password brute forcing.
What is the best authentication for API? ›
Token-based authentication is one of the most secure methods of authenticating REST APIs. They minimize interception risk since they can be encrypted and are usually short-lived, and they can offer granular access control. However, tokens require careful design and infrastructure considerations.
HTTP Basic authentication (BA) implementation is the simplest technique for enforcing access controls to web resources because it does not require cookies, session identifiers, or login pages; rather, HTTP Basic authentication uses standard fields in the HTTP header.
How is Basic Auth encoded? ›
The "Basic" HTTP authentication scheme is defined in RFC 7617, which transmits credentials as user ID/password pairs, encoded using base64.
What is the strongest form of authentication? ›
Categories
- The Three Types of Authentication Factors.
- Least Secure: Passwords.
- More Secure: One-time Passwords.
- More Secure: Biometrics.
- Most Secure: Hardware Keys.
- Most Secure: Device Authentication and Trust Factors.
What is the best authentication method? ›
Our top 5 authentication methods
- Biometric Authentication Methods. Biometric authentication relies on the unique biological traits of a user in order to verify their identity. ...
- QR Code. ...
- SMS OTP. ...
- Push Notification Authentication Method. ...
- Behavioral Authentication Method.
What is the most common authentication? ›
Password-based authentication
Passwords are the most common methods of authentication. Passwords can be in the form of a string of letters, numbers, or special characters. To protect yourself you need to create strong passwords that include a combination of all possible options.
When should Basic Auth be used? ›
However, always use an SSL encryption in combination with basic authentication to secure user account information being transmitted over the network. If the functionality of the intended application is basic, then basic authentication is the way to go.
What is the difference between OAuth and Auth0? ›
OAuth is primarily focused on enabling authorization for APIs. Auth0 and OAuth can be used together to build secure and scalable authentication and authorization solutions. OAuth can be used to grant access to APIs, while Auth0 can be used to manage the authentication and authorization process for your applications.
Is Basic Auth okay? ›
Basic authentication is vulnerable to replay attacks. Because basic authentication does not encrypt user credentials, it is important that traffic always be sent over an encrypted SSL session. A user authenticating with basic authentication must provide a valid username and password.
What is the difference between basic authentication and OAuth 2.0 in ServiceNow? ›
OAuth is more secure than Basic Authentication because, even though credentials are used to get an access token, the token has limited use and duration. It's like having a temporary key that minimizes the chance of exposing sensitive data, compared to Basic Authentication, where credentials are sent with every request.