- [Instructor] The OAuth and OpenID Connect protocols
provide a federated single sign-on experience for the web.
You've probably already used the OAuth
and OpenID Connect protocols on the web.
You just might not know them by those names.
Many popular web services use these protocols.
You'll often find websites relying upon identity providers
including LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and others.
Let's take a look at these protocols in action.
I'm visiting Lynda.com in a web browser
and I'd like to go ahead and log in.
I'll click the sign in button
and then I'm provided with two options.
I can either go ahead and continue logging in
with a username from Lynda.com
or I can use the sign in with LinkedIn button
to go ahead and connect using my LinkedIn credentials.
I'm going to go ahead and click sign in with LinkedIn,
but what I want you to notice first is that right now,
I'm on the Lynda.com domain.
You can see that in the address bar
at the top of the browser.
Once I click the sign in with LinkedIn button,
a window pop ups
and this window is accessing a website
on the domain LinkedIn.com.
Also, notice the word OAuth2 appearing in the URL.
That's a clue that this is OAuth in action.
Before I go ahead and provide my LinkedIn credentials here,
I want to read a little bit
about what information LinkedIn will provide to Lynda.com
if I go ahead and log in.
It tells me that in clear language here on this screen.
There are three permissions
that Lynda is requesting from LinkedIn.
First, they will get full access to my profile
which includes my experience,
education, skills, and recommendations.
Second, they'll receive my email address.
And finally, they'll receive the permission to link accounts
to share account and activity details
from Lynda to LinkedIn.
And that sounds okay to me
so I'm going to go ahead and log in
using my LinkedIn credentials.
This is secure
because Lynda is not going to see these credentials.
Remember, I'm on a LinkedIn webpage right now
so I'm providing my LinkedIn credentials to LinkedIn.
I'll go ahead and type in my email address and my password.
And once I click allow access,
that windows closes and I'm returned to Lynda.com
and I'm logged in.
OAuth and OpenID Connect are related protocols,
but they serve different purposes.
OAuth is an authorization protocol.
It doesn't perform authentication itself.
This can be a little confusing
because the name OAuth is ambiguous
and many people assume that it means authentication.
It doesn't.
Auth means authorization in this case.
OpenID Connect is an authentication protocol
that works with OAuth.
It's the identity and authentication provider
that helps users prove their identity to other services.
The OAuth and OpenID Connect protocols
are commonly used on the web for authentication.
If you work for a firm that uses them
either as an identity provider or a service provider,
you'll need to know these protocols inside out.
Even if you don't use them directly,
you should understand their functioning to provide
good security advice to users about the information
that they share with service providers.