Authn vs. Authz: How are they different?

Persistent cyber threats such as Account Takeovers (ATOs) and data breaches pose a grave threat to every business with an online presence and the consequences can be devastating. In 2023, ATOs caused almost $13 billion in losses and US companies faced an average cost of $9.48 million per data breach. Phishing led to 16% of breaches, with misuse of credentials accounting for 15%, with phishing racking up an average of $4.72 million per breach. So, as cyberattacks and fraudsters become ever-more sophisticated, how can you protect your business?

Authentication (AuthN) and authorization (Authz) should be at the heart of any prevention strategy. Authentication confirms a user's identity through credential verification, while authorization determines access privileges for authenticated users.

Read on to explore the key differences between AuthN vs. AuthZ and learn how they work together to authenticate users and manage access to your systems.

What is authentication (AuthN)?

Authentication, often shortened to AuthN, confirms someone's identity when they need access to protected information. Its primary function is to ensure that only authorized people can enter your systems and see sensitive data.

Common ways to authenticate include:

• Passwords

• Biometrics like fingerprints or facial recognition

• Multi-factor verification, combining multiple checks

The process uses various protocols for secure communication between the parties involved. These include:

• OAuth and OpenID Connect which allow safely authorizing apps to access private resources without sharing login details

• SAML enables signing in once to access various web programs and online services

The challenges of this approach include:

• Reused passwords across accounts increases the risk of theft

• Physical biometrics can be complex to change if stolen

• Protocols must balance your customers' convenience and protection

• Supporting large user volumes can add technical hurdles

What is authorization (AuthZ)?

Authorization (AuthZ) determines the actions or resources an authenticated person can access or use. Its role is to enforce the right policies and permissions for different users.

The main authorization models include:

• Role-based access control (RBAC) which groups users based on their roles and responsibilities

• Attribute-based access control (ABAC), where a variety of attributes like username, time of day, and location determine access

Common authorization mechanisms are:

• Access control lists (ACLs) specifying who can access what resources

• Capability-based systems where users are given cryptographically verified permissions

Authorization can be either fine-grained or coarse-grained. Fine-grained access provides precise control over parts of resources, while coarse-grained access offers broader permissions, such as allowing all actions on a resource.

Key differences between authentication and authorization

While authentication and authorization are crucial security functions, they serve distinct roles at different stages of access control. Understanding these differences helps ensure you implement the right protections. Whether you're developing software or managing user access, using these functions effectively supports both privacy and productivity. Let's examine their distinctive features:

• Purpose: AuthN confirms a person's identity, while AuthZ determines the actions and resources they can access based on factors like their role.

• Timing: AuthN occurs upfront to verify who someone is, and authz controls what they can do in that specific session.

• User experience: AuthN interacts with users to identify them, but AuthZ usually runs behind the scenes according to access policies.

• Data involved: AuthN relies on identification details like passwords, whereas AuthZ considers resource attributes like sensitivity level.

• Failure scenarios: With AuthN, access is denied if identification is unsuccessful. However, AuthZ only blocks access to some resources while allowing others.

• Customization: AuthN depends on identification methods, which are controlled by your users. On the other hand, administrators can tailor AuthZ policies to user roles and attributes for a given system.

• Protocols and standards: AuthN has protocols like OAuth, while AuthZ follows models like RBAC and mechanisms like access control lists.

How authentication and authorization work together

Authentication and authorization form a critical partnership in cybersecurity, each playing separate yet complementary roles to secure access to your systems and information. So, if you manage employee logins at your company, understanding how these processes function in tandem is essential for executing robust protection of your resources and data privacy. Here is how they work hand in hand: 

• User initiation: When a user needs to access a protected resource, the authentication process begins.

• Authentication request: Details are sent to the authentication server to verify the user's identity.

• Credential submission: The user submits credentials like a username and password to prove who they are.

• Identity verification: The authentication server confirms that the credentials match the stored identification information.

• Session creation: If verification succeeds, a session is created for an individual to use authorized features within a set period.

• Authorization check: Simultaneously, the authorization server verifies access policies to determine which actions or resources are available to the user based on identity-linked attributes, like role or location.

• Policy enforcement: The authorization response enforces the access rules, blocking or allowing any specific requests accordingly.

• Resource access: Approved requests are now fulfilled, denying any access to anything unauthorized.

• Ongoing verification: As long as a user session persists, periodic checks confirm that the authentication remains valid.

• Session termination: Upon completion or after a timeout, the session ends, and its record is cleared from the server memory.

Common challenges of AuthN and AuthZ

Authentication and authorization each come with unique challenges that no single solution can fully address. Recognizing these hurdles allows you to focus on reinforcing weak areas through technological advancements, process improvements, or user education. By adopting a proactive, multifaceted approach, you can strengthen your security posture over time.

Here are some common limitations you are likely to face:

• Managing user identities across multiple systems: Maintaining consistent authentication details becomes increasingly challenging as users access various applications or systems.

• Balancing security with user convenience: Stringent security protocols can add friction that burdens users, while lenient access controls increase vulnerabilities. Achieving the right balance is a delicate but essential task.

• Handling authorization in microservices architectures: When applications split into independent components, coordinating authorization policies between them introduces complexity.

• Securing Internet of Things (IoT) devices: The widespread use of sensors, appliances, and other "smart" technologies expands the attack surface. Keeping their authentication and authorization processes resilient against evolving threats requires substantial resources and investment.

• Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations: With rules like the GDPR taking a strict approach to enforcing privacy and consent, authentication systems must meet these requirements unfailingly, which demands a consistent and concerted effort.

Use Fastly to enhance authentication and authorization

Fastly's global edge cloud platform tackles the specific challenges of both authentication and authorization processes by leveraging edge computing to reduce latency and enhance security. This approach ensures fast, reliable user experiences while maintaining strict access controls.

Here's how Fastly can strengthen your security strategy: 

• Edge authentication: Fastly processes authentication requests at the global network edge, closer to your users, allowing for faster identity validation without overloading your own servers.

• Flexible authorization policies: Fastly offers customizable access controls at the edge, allowing real-time, policy-driven authorization decisions without communicating with central servers.

• Token-based authentication: The solution integrates smoothly with common standards like OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect, supporting secure token exchanges for users and application programming interfaces (APIs).

• API security: Fastly's edge services check authentication credentials and verify authorization for API requests, blocking invalid ones before they reach your backends. This approach protects services and data from the start.

• Real-time policy updates: You can instantly push authorization changes across the Fastly network. Adjustments take effect quickly for all users, regardless of their location.

• Logging and analytics: Fastly's logging and analytics tools provide valuable insights into authentication and authorization activities, helping you monitor patterns, detect anomalies, and optimize processes over time.

• Easy identity provider integration: The platform swiftly connects with existing identity solutions, letting you build a scalable, secure authentication framework without replacing current systems.

Request a free demo today to learn how Fastly can enhance your authentication and authorization capabilities.