What is Federated SSO (Single Sign-On)?

Introduction

In a world where digital experiences play a crucial role in the overall success of a business, federated SSO (single sign-on) helps brands deliver seamless authentication experiences across multiple platforms.

With fed SSO, businesses can bridge the authentication gap between multiple platforms and enable users with cloud identity services to access services offered by one or more partner businesses/media without needing a separate login at the partner platform.

Authentication plays an essential role in the overall success of a business both from an information security perspective and a user experience perspective.

Hence, neglecting its worth could cause brands to lose their potential clients, and their loyal customers may also switch.

Let’s understand the aspects of fed SSO and how businesses could leverage it to deliver the highest level of user experience reinforced by security.

But first: SSO!

Single sign-on provides a unified login experience to users that wish to switch platforms/applications of the same vendor. In a nutshell, SSO ensures smooth authentication and minimizes fatigue while users switch between different applications/media of the same vendor.

SSO is practiced within an organization to ensure users access inter-connected platforms without needing to re-enter credentials or re-authenticate themselves.

What is Fed SSO? How Does it Impact Businesses?

Federated single sign-on (SSO) establishes inter-organizational trust that helps seamless authorization and authentication of each others’ users.

Fed SSO generates an authentication URL, and when the user clicks on the URL, the cloud identity service makes a digitally signed token to verify the partner platform. And this token is further submitted by the web browser to the partner’s SSO during a new session.

The federated SSO works by offering a partnership role involving two parties, including the service provider (SP) and identity provider (IdP). The identity provider provides a digital token, and the service provider validates the digital token and creates a new session offering access to the program/application.

Key Components of Federated SSO

Federated Single Sign-On (SSO) involves several key components that work together to enable seamless authentication and authorization across multiple platforms. Understanding these components is crucial for businesses looking to implement federated SSO effectively:

Identity Provider (IdP)

The Identity Provider plays a central role in federated SSO. It is responsible for authenticating users and providing them with a digital token upon successful authentication. This token contains the necessary information to verify the user's identity.

Service Provider (SP)

The Service Provider is the platform or application that users are trying to access. When a user attempts to log in, the SP receives the digital token from the IdP. The SP then validates this token to grant access to the user.

Authentication URL

The Authentication URL is generated by the federated SSO system. When a user clicks on this URL, it triggers the authentication process. The cloud identity service then creates a digitally signed token to verify the partner platform.

Digital Token

The Digital Token contains user identity information and is crucial for authentication. It is generated by the IdP and submitted by the web browser to the SP during a new session. The SP validates this token to create a new session and grant access to the user.

Partnership Role

Federated SSO involves a partnership role between two parties: the Service Provider (SP) and the Identity Provider (IdP). The IdP issues the digital token, and the SP validates it, creating a new session for the user to access the desired program or application.

How is Federated SSO Different from SSO

While both Federated Single Sign-On (SSO) and traditional Single Sign-On (SSO) aim to simplify authentication, they differ in their scope and application:

Scope of Authentication

• Traditional SSO: Traditional SSO is typically limited to applications within a single organization. It allows users to access various applications within the same organization without re-entering credentials.
• Federated SSO: Federated SSO extends authentication beyond a single organization. It enables users to access services offered by multiple partner businesses or media platforms without needing separate logins. This inter-organizational trust allows for seamless authorization and authentication across different entities.

Authentication Process

• Traditional SSO: In traditional SSO, the user logs in once and gains access to various applications within the same organization. Authentication is limited to the organization's internal systems.
• Federated SSO: Federated SSO involves a more complex authentication process. Users receive a digital token from the Identity Provider (IdP) when they attempt to access a partner platform. This token is verified by the Service Provider (SP) to grant access. The authentication process spans across organizations, establishing trust between them.

Inter-Organizational Trust

• Traditional SSO: In traditional SSO, authentication is confined within the boundaries of a single organization. There is no need for trust relationships with external entities.
• Federated SSO: Federated SSO requires inter-organizational trust between the Identity Provider (IdP) and Service Providers (SPs). This trust allows for the seamless exchange of authentication tokens between different organizations, enabling users to access services across partner platforms without separate logins.

Benefits of Using Federated SSO for Businesses and End-Users

Federated Single Sign-On (SSO) offers numerous benefits for both businesses and end-users. Firstly, it enhances user experience by enabling seamless access to multiple applications and services with a single set of credentials.

End-users can conveniently log in once and gain access to various resources across different systems, eliminating the need to remember multiple usernames and passwords.

For businesses, Federated SSO simplifies user management and reduces the administrative burden.

Instead of creating and maintaining separate user accounts for each application, businesses can leverage existing identity providers (IdPs) to authenticate users. This streamlines user provisioning and deprovisioning processes, saving time and resources.

Another advantage of Federated SSO is improved security. By relying on established identity protocols such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) or OpenID Connect, the authentication process becomes more robust. Businesses can leverage the security measures implemented by the identity provider, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.

End-users can also benefit from enhanced security as they are less likely to fall victim to phishing attacks or password-related vulnerabilities.

Who Needs Federated SSO?

Businesses concerned regarding their brand reputation in delivering a rich consumer experience without compromising security shouldn’t ignore the true potential of federated SSO.

With federated SSO, businesses can overcome the hassle of resetting passwords and ensure their customers can flawlessly switch between applications/platforms of different service providers without worrying about their security.

Apart from this, businesses requiring higher peak load management and an identity management system to provide real-time load management should choose a reliable CIAM solution offering federated SSO capabilities.

Challenges and Limitations of Federated SSO

While Federated SSO brings numerous benefits, there are also challenges and limitations to consider. One significant challenge is the complexity of implementation. Setting up Federated SSO requires coordination between different parties, including the service provider, identity provider, and relying parties.

This complexity can pose difficulties, especially for smaller organizations with limited resources or technical expertise.

Interoperability is another challenge. Although Federated SSO protocols like SAML and OpenID Connect provide standardization, there may still be compatibility issues between different implementations.

These challenges can arise when integrating with legacy systems or when dealing with custom applications that do not fully adhere to the established protocols.

Furthermore, reliance on a single identity provider can become a limitation. If the chosen identity provider experiences downtime or disruptions, it can affect the availability of the federated SSO service for all relying parties.

Businesses should have contingency plans in place to mitigate such risks and ensure uninterrupted access for their users.

Use Cases for Federated SSO

Federated SSO finds applications across various industries and scenarios. One example is in the education sector, where universities and educational institutions can implement Federated SSO to simplify access to learning resources and collaboration tools.

Students and faculty members can log in once using their institutional credentials and seamlessly access multiple systems, such as learning management platforms, research databases, and email services.

In the e-commerce industry, Federated SSO can enhance user convenience and trust. By integrating with popular social media platforms or widely used identity providers, online retailers can offer their customers the option to log in using their existing accounts. This reduces friction during the registration and login process, leading to improved conversion rates and user satisfaction.

Another use case is within the enterprise environment. Large organizations with numerous internal applications and systems can leverage Federated SSO to simplify user access management.

Employees can use their corporate credentials to access various resources, including intranet portals, customer relationship management tools, and project management platforms, without the need for separate usernames and passwords.

Best Practices for Implementing Federated SSO

Implementing Federated SSO effectively requires following certain best practices. Firstly, it is crucial to carefully choose reliable and secure identity providers. Conduct thorough evaluations of their security practices, uptime history, and support capabilities to ensure a smooth and secure authentication experience for end-users.

Additionally, businesses should strive for interoperability by selecting federated SSO protocols that are widely adopted and supported. SAML and OpenID Connect are commonly used standards and offer a good starting point for integration. When integrating with legacy systems or custom applications, it is essential to perform thorough testing and ensure compatibility.

Why Choose LoginRadius Federated SSO?

With LoginRadius federated SSO, you can accept tokens and identities issued by niche identity providers of your choice and allow your customers to authenticate on your website for seamless transactions.

Moreover, identity providers can be your organizational partners who already issue and hold digital identities/tokens/tickets. With LoginRadius Federated SSO, your business can leverage that identity and make authentication seamless for your customers.

LoginRadius guarantees unparalleled uptime of 99.99% every month. The cloud-based identity provider manages 180K logins per second, 20 times more than its major competitors!

Apart from delivering the industry's best consumer, the following are a few ways the platform excels compared to its competitors.

• Scalability: LoginRadius ensures your consumer base accommodates your consumer base. It can autoscale and handle hundreds of applications. The LoginRadius Cloud Directory automatically scales to handle incremental data in real time.
• Security Certifications: LoginRadius complies with international regulatory bodies like AICPA SOC 2, ISAE 3000, Cloud Security Alliance, Privacy Shield, and more.
• Auto Scalable infrastructure: The platform offers an auto-scalable infrastructure to handle surges during daily and seasonal peak loads. It automatically accommodates data storage, account creation, consumer authentication, and new applications.
• Globally compliant: The LoginRadius platform also complies with major global compliances like the GDPR, CCPA, etc. You can keep track of your consumers, manage preferences, and customize the kind of consent consumers want.

In Conclusion

With businesses swiftly adopting technology to embark on a digital transformation journey, federated SSO can help quickly navigate the journey.

Undoubtedly, brands not leveraging a reliable SSO partner to offer seamless cross-platform authentication and authorization will lag behind the competition.

Businesses can invoke the true potential of inter-business SSO through LoginRadius CIAM and offer a rich customer experience and enhanced security.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why is federated SSO a mechanism?

Federated Single Sign-On (SSO) enables users to access multiple platforms with one set of credentials, bridging authentication across different organizations.

2. Why use SAML for SSO?

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is favored for SSO due to its standardized data exchange between Identity Providers (IdPs) and Service Providers (SPs), ensuring secure communication.

3. What are the key components of federated identity?

The main components are the Identity Provider (IdP) for authentication, the Service Provider (SP) for access, and the Digital Token that verifies a user's identity.