Mastering ArcGIS Enterprise Administration

Authentication and authorization

Authentication and authorization are two terms that sound similar, yet have very different meanings. Authentication is the process of verifying who you are; in computing, this is commonly done through logging in with a username and password. With ArcGIS Server, this is done with token-based ArcGIS Server-based authentication or web server authentication. Authorization is about what you are permitted to do; in computing, this is commonly done through permissions, for example, now that you are logged into the system, what do you have permission to access. When talking about security, it is important to keep the concept of authentication versus authorization in mind as it is completely possible to be authenticated ...