Secured Authentication by Single Sign On (SSO): A Big Picture

Single Sign On (SSO) is a tool used for single login credentials to authorise the user to access all software or applications independent of each other, causing users to log in repeatedly. With the help of an administrator, it minimizes the security risk of managing the user. SSO allows users to access the various applications after one login. It does not mean that the Single Sign On system merges many different user account information for all the different services as well as the many applications and systems. SSO safely stores multiple user login information into a single account that, with the help of these credentials, users need to login. With the help of login credentials, the SSO system will generate authentication information that is accepted by the different applications and systems. In the present research article, many different types of technologies that operationalize SSO are collated. Various implementation types of SSO are explained. It also discusses the protocols used in SSO, SSO architecture, advantages of SSO, implementation of SSO in detail and challenges faced by SSO. An overall broader picture of SSO is discussed in this regard.