Salesforce users need to read data from an external system via HTTPS request. Which two security methods should an integration architect leverage…

For securing an outbound HTTPS request from Salesforce, Named Credentials and Two-way SSL are the most direct and appropriate security methods. A Named Credential is the standard Salesforce feature for managing outbound callouts. It abstracts the endpoint URL and handles the authentication protocol (e.g., Basic Auth, OAuth 2.0), preventing sensitive credentials from being hardcoded in Apex code. Salesforce manages the authentication, simplifying the process and enhancing security. Two-way SSL (also known as mutual TLS or mTLS) provides transport-level security. In this method, both the client (Salesforce) and the server (the external system) authenticate each other by presenting and validating digital certificates. This ensures that Salesforce is communicating with the legitimate server and the server is receiving requests from the correct Salesforce org.

1. Salesforce Developer Documentation

Apex Developer Guide: "A named credential specifies the URL of a callout endpoint and its required authentication parameters in one definition... Salesforce manages all authentication for Apex callouts that specify a named credential as the callout endpoint." (See section: "Named Credentials as Callout Endpoints").

2. Salesforce Help

Certificate and Key Management: "You can use certificates to authenticate your Salesforce org to an external website... For example

for an outbound message to an external endpoint that requires two-way SSL authentication." This describes the use case for client certificates in mTLS.

3. Salesforce Developer Documentation

Security Guide: "Mutual authentication

also known as two-way transport layer security (TLS) authentication

verifies that both the client and server in a communication are who they claim to be... Salesforce supports mutual authentication for outbound messages and Apex callouts." (See section: "Mutual Authentication").

4. Salesforce Developer Documentation

Connected Apps: "A connected app is a framework that enables an external application to integrate with Salesforce using APIs and standard protocols

such as SAML

OAuth

and OpenID Connect." This highlights its primary role in enabling external apps to connect to Salesforce.