Federated Login, SSO and Digital Identity
The terms federated login and SSO or Single-Sign On are interchangeably used to describe authentication of a user between two or more online service providers. Authentication is when someone tries to prove who they are against a set of characteristics/information that is known about them. And so a federated login and SSO are a set of ways a user from a known system uses to prove themselves to another system. The information about a user that is saved on a particular system is then known as the user’s Digital Identity.
Having all this in mind, we explain all three terms in an analogy as follows:
Mary does not want to carry different sets of keys for her house, office and car. Mary goes to a renowned locksmith, known as Rushwin and requests for one key or a master key to open the door to her house, office and car. Rushwin now requests for Mary to present the different keys she has so a master key could be cut to open the different doors. Rushwin knows that these different doors have different lock systems and hence it tries to cut one that could fit all.
By our definition of federated login, SSO and Digital Identity, we describe the terms as follows; – federated login represents the master key cut by Rushwin, which is a set of credentials used to log in to several systems. This is referred to as a Single-sign on. The master key resembles a digital Identity /ID that carries enough information about a user to be presented to various login portals.
Another everyday use of SSO and federated login is the use of a GMAIL Account to login to other online platforms that accept GMAIL authentication. For instance, a user with a GMail/Google account signed-in on a smartphone could choose to use their Gmail to authenticate with other apps such as Zoom, Dropbox or Alibaba.
Digital Identity platforms using a trusted federated login for single-sign on, reduces the hustle for a customer to manage different sets of digital identity or credentials. This improves the customer experience, saves time and provides enhanced security to safeguard one’s digital identity. Furthermore, different service providers save cost on identity management, security and storage.
By design, the YuTru Digital Identity platform is built on similar technology standards to provide less friction, and improve online customer experience across different online service provider platforms. We provide a trusted scheme for online business e-kyc and identity access management.