Book Image

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development

By : Sjoukje Zaal
Book Image

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development

By: Sjoukje Zaal

Overview of this book

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development is your one-stop shop for learning how to develop secure applications using modern authentication techniques with Microsoft Azure AD. Whether you’re working with single-tenant, multi-tenant, or line-of-business applications, this book contains everything you need to secure them. The book wastes no time in diving into the practicalities of Azure AD. Right from the start, you’ll be setting up tenants, adding users, and registering your first application in Azure AD. The balance between grasping and applying theory is maintained as you move from the intermediate to the advanced: from the basics of OAuth to getting your hands dirty with building applications and registering them in Azure AD. Want to pin down the Microsoft Graph, Azure AD B2C, or authentication protocol best practices? We’ve got you covered. The full range of Azure AD functionality from a developer perspective is here for you to explore with confidence. By the end of this secure app development book, you’ll have developed the skill set that so many organizations are clamoring for. Security is mission-critical, and after reading this book, you will be too.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Started with the Microsoft Identity Platform
5
Part 2: Authentication and Protocols
9
Part 3: Azure AD B2C

Understanding the different application types

In this section, we are going to cover the different application types and some examples of use cases where these application types are used.

Single-page applications

Single-page applications (SPAs) are used in many modern web application scenarios. Many modern web applications are built as client-side SPAs and are written in languages such as JavaScript or SPA frameworks such as Angular, Vue, and React. These applications have different authentication requirements than the traditional server-side web applications because they run on a web browser.

The Microsoft identity platform offers two different options for SAPs to sign users in and retrieve tokens to access the web APIs or backend services:

  • OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow (with PKCE): By using the authorization code flow, applications are allowed to exchange an authorization code for ID tokens, which represent the authenticated user, and access tokens to call protected...