Authentication

Authentication (from Greek: αὐθεντικός authentikos, "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης authentes, "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicating a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of verifying that identity.^[1]^[2]

Authentication is relevant to multiple fields. In art, antiques, and anthropology, a common problem is verifying that a given artifact was produced by a certain person, or in a certain place (i.e. to assert that it is not counterfeit), or in a given period of history (e.g. by determining the age via carbon dating). In computer science, verifying a user's identity is often required to allow access to confidential data or systems.^[3] It might involve validating personal identity documents.

^ Abu-Nimeh, Saeed (2011), "Three-Factor Authentication", in van Tilborg, Henk C. A.; Jajodia, Sushil (eds.), Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security, Boston, MA: Springer Publishing, pp. 1287–1288, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_793, ISBN 978-1-4419-5905-8, archived from the original on 2024-04-23
^ "What is Authentication? Definition of Authentication, Authentication Meaning". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
^ McTigue, E.; Thornton, E.; Wiese, P. (2013). "Authentication Projects for Historical Fiction: Do you believe it?". The Reading Teacher. 66 (6): 495–505. doi:10.1002/trtr.1132. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015.

[1] Abu-Nimeh, Saeed (2011), "Three-Factor Authentication", in van Tilborg, Henk C. A.; Jajodia, Sushil (eds.), Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security, Boston, MA: Springer Publishing, pp. 1287–1288, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_793, ISBN 978-1-4419-5905-8, archived from the original on 2024-04-23

[:1-2] "What is Authentication? Definition of Authentication, Authentication Meaning". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-11-15.

[:0-3] McTigue, E.; Thornton, E.; Wiese, P. (2013). "Authentication Projects for Historical Fiction: Do you believe it?". The Reading Teacher. 66 (6): 495–505. doi:10.1002/trtr.1132. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015.

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