Basic authentication is not considered secure on its own due to the following:

1. Credentials are transmitted in plain text.
2. Susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks
3. No protection against replay attacks
4. No protection against brute-force attacks
5. No two-factor authentication support

OIDC (OpenID Connect) builds upon OAuth by adding an identity layer to the authorization process. While OAuth primarily focuses on delegated access and authorization, OIDC introduces a standardized way for applications to obtain information about the end user’s identity. It provides user authentication, allowing for secure and standardized user identification, in addition to the authorization capabilities offered by OAuth.

RADIUS is an authentication protocol, but it is not used in SSO scenarios

The main purpose of an IdP (Identity Provider) is to manage and authenticate user identities within a system or across multiple systems. An IdP serves as a trusted source for verifying user credentials and providing authentication tokens or assertions to enable secure and seamless access to various applications or services. In the context of federated identity systems, an IdP plays a key role in allowing users to use a single set of credentials to access multiple connected applications or services, promoting Single Sign-On (SSO) and simplifying user authentication and authorization processes.

OAuth (Open Authorization) is an open standard that allows users to grant third-party applications limited access to their resources without sharing their credentials. It facilitates secure and controlled authorization by enabling users to provide permissions for specific actions or data, often used in scenarios where external services need to access user information from another service (e.g., social media logins).

The main players involved in an OAuth flow are:

1. Resource Owner: The user who owns the protected resources and grants access to them.
2. Client: The application or service requesting access to the user’s resources.
3. Authorization Server: Manages the authorization process, authenticates the user, and issues access tokens.
4. Resource Server: Hosts the protected resources and responds to requests using access tokens.
5. User Agent: The user’s browser or device that interacts with the Authorization Server and the Resource Owner.

HTTP Session Cookies are used to keep the session alive between browsers (UI) and servers

The correct answer is Limited adoption and compatibility.

Limited adoption and compatibility is not an advantage of passwordless authentication; it is a potential challenge. While passwordless authentication offers many benefits, such as enhancing security, improving the user experience, and streamlining IT processes, one of the obstacles is that it might not be fully adopted or compatible with all systems and platforms yet.

Here’s a brief explanation of the advantages:

1. Enhanced user experience: Passwordless authentication reduces the need for users to remember complex passwords, making the login process faster and more convenient.
2. Strengthen security: Passwordless authentication eliminates the risks associated with password-based attacks, such as phishing or credential theft.
3. Enhance IT Processes: By reducing password-related issues (e.g., resets, forgotten passwords), IT processes become more efficient.

The correct answer is Clipping levels.

Clipping levels refer to predefined thresholds or limits set by the information security department to determine when certain user errors or incidents should be considered security breaches. For example, the number of failed login attempts before triggering an alert or lockout. This concept helps filter out minor or accidental incidents while focusing on potentially significant security concerns.

Here’s a brief explanation of the other options:

1. Known Error: Refers to a problem or issue that has been identified and documented, usually in the context of IT service management, not related to security breaches.
2. Minimum Security Baseline: Refers to the minimum set of security controls or standards that must be in place in an organization but is unrelated to user error thresholds.
3. Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD): Refers to the maximum amount of time that a business can tolerate system unavailability during a disaster, unrelated to user error thresholds.

The hierarchical nature of directory servers refers to their organization of data in a tree-like structure, typically following a hierarchical directory structure. This structure allows for efficient and organized storage and retrieval of information, where data is organized into entries, and relationships are established through parent-child relationships, reflecting a hierarchy.

OIDC (OpenID Connect) is used for identity layer authentication, providing a standardized way for applications to verify the identity of users. It enhances and extends OAuth 2.0 by adding authentication capabilities, allowing users to log in to different services using a single set of credentials, and enabling secure and standardized user identification across web applications.

The correct answer is A user authenticating to a system and the system authenticating to the user.

Mutual authentication is a process where both parties in a communication (such as a user and a system) authenticate each other. This ensures that not only does the user verify their identity to the system, but the system also verifies its identity to the user, preventing potential man-in-the-middle attacks.

Here’s a brief explanation of the other options:

1. A user authenticating to two systems at the same time: This describes parallel authentication to two systems, but it’s not mutual authentication.
2. A user authenticating to a server and then to a process: This does not represent mutual authentication, as it focuses on sequential authentication rather than both parties authenticating to each other.
3. A user authenticating, receiving a ticket, and then authenticating to a service: This describes a process like Kerberos authentication but doesn’t fully encompass the concept of mutual authentication.

Ownership-based authentication refers to a type of authentication method where the user’s identity is verified based on ownership or possession of a specific physical object, such as a smart card, security token, or mobile device. Access is granted when the user presents or uses the owned object as proof of identity, adding a layer of security to the authentication process.