Healthcare Information Technology Exam Guide for CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician and HIT Pro Certifications

Authentication vs. Claims About Authentication (Federated Identity)

So far, the concept of authentication has been about the computer system confirming that the human using the computer is the one identified by the user identity. There is another process that is also called authentication; this is when one computer system is using the services of a second computer system on behalf of the user. The services of the second computer system will be relying on the information that it is given and thus is called a relying party.^{1, 2,3,4,6,12,20,21} Note that this concept extends well beyond just two parties.

For this process, a trusted third party creates a claim, which is a statement of the user identity, authentication method, roles being used, workflow ...