What is the PRIMARY identity and access management function you use when providing a user ID and password?

Authentication is the process of verifying a claimed identity. When a user provides a user ID, they are making a claim about who they are. The password serves as a secret piece of information (a knowledge factor) to prove that claim. The system then compares these credentials against its stored records to confirm the user's identity. This verification process is the fundamental definition of authentication within the Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework.

A. Validation is a generic term for checking data correctness; it is not the specific security function for verifying a user's identity.

B. Authorization is the process of granting permissions to resources, which occurs after a user has been successfully authenticated.

C. Login is a user-facing term for the overall process of gaining access, but the specific technical function being performed is authentication.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2017). Special Publication 800-63-3: Digital Identity Guidelines. Section 1.2

"Introduction to Digital Identity". The document states

"Authentication is the process of verifying a claimant’s identity."

2. Saltzer

J. H.

& Schroeder

M. D. (1975). The Protection of Information in Computer Systems. Communications of the ACM

18(7)

377–408. Section I.A.2

"Authentication". This foundational paper defines authentication as the mechanism for "associating a unique system-identifier with that principal." The use of a password is a primary example. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/361011.361062)

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare. (2014). 6.857 Computer and Network Security

Lecture 2: Control of Information. The lecture notes clearly distinguish authentication ("Who are you?") from authorization ("What are you allowed to do?").