CyberCertPrepWeb App FundamentalsAuthentication BasicsEASYFree question
What is 'federated identity' and how does it differ from traditional application authentication?
- A.Federated identity means all users share a single account credential
- B.Federated identity allows users to authenticate using an identity from a trusted external provider (Google, Microsoft, Okta) rather than creating a separate account in each application; the application trusts the identity provider's authentication assertion
- C.Federated identity is a government-issued digital identity system
- D.Federated identity is when multiple servers share the same user database
Why B is correct
Federated identity (SSO, SAML, OIDC) delegates authentication to a trusted Identity Provider. Users log in once to their IdP (e.g., corporate SSO) and get access to multiple applications via trust assertions (SAML assertions, OIDC tokens). Security benefits: centralized credential management, single place to enforce MFA and policies, immediate revocation by disabling the IdP account. Security risk: the IdP becomes a high-value single point of failure.
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