What is Single Sign-on?
Before understanding what Single Sign-On (SSO) is, we must go through how traditional authentication works.
- A service will present the user with a login page where the user must submit a set of login credentials i.e., username and passwords. Some services might ask for more authentication information such as a one-time password.
- The credentials submitted by the user are validated against the ones present in the database at the service.
Traditional authentication is quite intuitive; everything is managed within the service, providing a simple way for users to authenticate. However, if a user needs to access multiple applications with a different set of login credentials for each application, it quickly turns cumbersome for the user. The user must remember multiple credentials and comply with different password policies.
Single Sign-On is a feature which lets you access Zoho as well as third-party applications with one user credential. Users aren't required to remember an array of usernames and passwords for each application they need access to. Zoho uses SAML to achieve SSO with third-party applications.
What is SAML?
SAML stands for Security Assertion Markup Language. It is an industry standard specification for federated authorization. Federated authorization lets users gain access to applications without transferring or storing user credentials.